Coolant Leak? Stumbling, hesitation also!

[97camRS]

Today I was sitting in traffic just as I normally do everyday and when I pulled in the driveway and shut the car off there was steam coming from under the hood. I popped the hood and all I saw was steam, I looked under the car and saw it dripping like crazy on the ground but couldn't see the location of the leak. I heard a sound like boiling water coming from the passenger side of the motor near the alternator which is were most of the steam was coming up from but the dripping was coming more from the rear of the motor it looked like. I topped of the radiator with water and drove it later and the same thing happened. Again I couldn't tell where the leak was coming from. I have no clue what could possible be leaking coolant towards the top, rear of the motor????????????????

Also, for the past week the car has been having a slight hesitation here and there which got a lot worse Friday night and then today this happens. DO you think the two could be related??????

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Ian]

check your water pump weep hole. under the water pump. thats prolly it

[wolf]

iy may be your overflow bottle,mine was messed up on the black camaro,it would take coolent from the radiator,but it wouldn't put it back,and eventally i'd all boil over and spray out everywhere

try replacing the radiator cap,if that don't work change the overflow bottle

[97camRS]

Just changed the water pump 2 months ago and I got a flash light and checked the water pump and the hose coming from the water pump and there was no moisture at all.

Wolf- when you said yours would boil over where was the coolant coming from? Mine is def not coming from the overflow bottle. I'm just hoping it's not something major!

[camaroincal]

possible blown head gasket or cracked head...with the stumbling u just noticed and the coolant leaking...hopefully it's just the water pump... [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

look at the little black elbow that gos into the lower intake, and contects to the idler pull area...... those bust all the time (above te water pump)

[97camRS]

Let's just assume this was something like blown head gasket, how much would I be looking at spending for that?

[CamaroRob97]

How much you spend depends on if you do it yourself. Paying someone to do headgaskets is all labor. You have to just pay for gaskets otherwise.

Check your heater hose lines and your supply and return lines going to and from the radiator.

It could be shooting backwards cause the system is under pressure when it is hot.

[97camRS]

Alright, drove the car today to my mechanic who is supposed to look at it this afternoon. Well, when I came back and pulled in the driveway I could smell coolant so I popped the hood I was surprised because the temp gauge wasn't even at 185. Every other time it has done this same thing the temp was well over 210. Anyways, I could tell the leak was coming from under the throttle body and above the water pump. My assumption of the leak coming from the passenger side of the motor was incorrect I can now tell it's coming from the center of the motor. Does anyone have any suggestions on what it could now be?

Also, does anyone know a website that has a chart of our cooling system?

[EolGul]

Originally posted by viper04af:
look at the little black elbow that gos into the lower intake, and contects to the idler pull area...... those bust all the time (above te water pump)

That's the problem. Same exact thing happened to me and since I had no idea what was wrong I took my car to the mechanic. He gave me back a broken piece of black pastic and I found the other half in my driveway.

[97camRS]

Okay, after further review with my friends. We're sure it's the intake manifold gasket. Does anyone know how many hours a dealership would charge for this?

[Antman]

I wouldn't have thought it would take fully trained mechanics more than an hour to change an intake gasket.
I could probably do mine myself in less than 2 hours - an i'm NOT a mechanic.

[97camRS]

Called local Chevy dealership today and it's gonna cost $384.00 just in labor to get it done there. They will have it back to me same day though.

[Ike]

lame...
don't go to a dealer!

[97camRS]

I'm not. I found a guy that is going to do it for me. I was going to do it myself but am in the middle of moving and don't have time to deal with it now.