Tracking down coolant

[Nathan]

Well the back story is that recently I had to replace a lifter in my engine. After getting everything back together I still have one small problem holding me back from racing.
I now have a terrible coolant leak that only occurs when the car is running at reg operating temp. Once the car gets warmed up coolant flows out at a high rate. Puddles quickly form on the K-member.
This is a new water pump and there is no leak from the weep hole. All new gaskets were used also.
Here is where I loose track of the leak.
http://pics.xs.to/pics/04086/P1010008.JPG
This is the left side of the WP. If it wasnt raining out I would take off the alt and get some better idea's but right now all I can do is play desk mechanic. Any idea's?

[97rs]

wow, i was just about to post, i have the exact same problem. i flushed coolant about a month ago, but i dont think that is it b/c it just started leaking a few days ago, and it only leaks when the car has been running a little while.

[Nathan]

Yeah, the other day I only drove about 3 miles down the road but the car got up to normal running temperature and it started to leak. I could smell it through the vents, and when I stopped I saw a fairly significant amount of fluid leaking from that area. I really want to fix this so I can start driving my car around normally.

[Ian]

it may be a new pump, but id say check the gasket. Did you scrape the old one off completely?

Does it look like its comin from around the head at all?

[Nathan]

Well again today I didnt get a chance to dig around any more. I had to work this morning and then it has raining all day here. Garage is actually flooded. The pump is new, less than 6,000 miles on it. Yes I cleaned the gasket off, scraped then used gasket remover spray. As soon as it dries up some more outside I will get some more stuff out of the way and try to track it down a little better.

[97rs]

cool, i hope its not the waterpump, i will be checking it out probably tomorrow or tuesday, let me know what you find if you're first nathan

[Nathan]

Alright well from further I am even more baffled now. The "leak" from before has grown 10x worse. Before it would not start leaking until the engine warmed up some, now as soon as I start the car the coolant starts flowing. Not dripping, almost a steady thin stream.
Here is where the coolant finally falls from.
http://pics.xs.to/pics/04082/leak1.jpg
This picture is taken from drivers side of car looking from back to front of the engine.
I surely hope their isnt a bad seal inside the engine, I do not want to pull it all apart again.

[Ian]

can you get a picture of that same spot, but zoom out some, like farther back so you can see teh whole area?

could it be a freeze plug?

[Nathan]

Sure, tomorrow I will hop under the car and see what I can get. I never touched the freeze plugs but it seems weird that they would open up so much after working on the upper engine. I am betting that either that I did not put a hose/connector in deep enough, or a gasket was a POS right from the get-go.