Coolant leak above water pump

[rogue9607]

I've been reading through other threads about coolant leaks and wanted to get your opinions before I spend the better part of an afternoon taking things apart only to find that I'd missed something simple.

My 97 3800 has a coolant leak that I've traced as high as I can, but can't get good visibility to see exactly where the source is. The light spot in the circle of the attached image is the reflection from a trickle of coolant. My plan is to check the plastic elbow which I believe is in this location, and if that is not the problem, then I'll proceed to change the plenum and lower intake gaskets.

Does this sound right, or am I going about this wrong?

Thank you!

[Joey41]

Re: Coolant leak above water pump

Every time I have had a leak in that area it has been the 90 degree plastic elbow that comes from the engine and goes into the assembly that the heater hoses hook up to.

If this is the case you will need to remove thge alternator, disconnect the heater hoses up front and remove that assembly that the heater hoses connect to. This is not that hard a job, just be careful when you put it all back together and make sure to get the plastic elbow in as straight as possible. I think the plastic part is only about $10 at Autozone. I have posted about this before I will see if I can find my picks of the part. Oh when you hook it all back up, be sure to bleed the air out of your coolant system.

[OneEightSeven]

Re: Coolant leak above water pump

@Joey41

That's been my experience as well.

[rogue9607]

Re: Coolant leak above water pump

Thanks for the quick replies. I certainly hope I'll find the issue with the elbow and be able to stop there.

I was going to try to make some progress this evening, but when I opened up the drain plug on the radiator, nothing came out. I checked the radiator, and there was fluid in there, and the drain plug was perfectly clean. I fished around a little bit to see if there was any buildup inside blocking it, but couldn't find anything. Any thoughts?

[rogue9607]

Re: Coolant leak above water pump

Thank you for the assistance. Just to update, I replaced the elbow two weeks ago and she's been running great since!