mad mohawk

my 93 is leaking coolant, talk about tight quarters to try to see where it is leaking from, putting it up on ramps on Sunday with me luck.

higgyburners

check the weep hole on the water pump, run your fingers under the water pump and if you draw back a wet paw its just the beginning.

don hall

Run the engine until it reaches operating temp. That will pressurize the system, and any leaks should be evident.

leesvet

if the engine bay is dirty, wet, park over a piece of cardboard to you can get some idea of where to look...water pump as others have said, or one of the many heater hoses hidden under something.

Whatever it is, DO NOT use stop leak unless you are stranded in the middle of the dessert and HAVE to drive the thing to safety.......A $5 bottle of stop leak will cost you between $500 & $1000 to repair/replace the damage it causes.

daddysvet92

I had a coolant leak and after running the engine I found it hard to look for anything due to the engine being so hot and if you try to leave the car running you have to look out for the belt and moving parts.
My neighbor let me use his rad pressure tester and all I had to do is attach it to the rad reservoir and attach the compressor to the other end and apply about 18psi and I was able to look around the top and bottom and found where my leak was. So much easier and allot cooler to move things around when the engine is cold, and allot safer without it running!
You might be able to borrow one from autozone or a friend.
Good luck!

don hall

Pressurizing through the fill neck will only pressurize the radiator, not
the complete system, unless you remove the tstat.

mad mohawk

well , i dont know if this is good or bad, got it up on ramps, did not start the car, and still really could only see it was dripping from the front drivers side corner of the block, so we pull the water pump and the bolts on the drivers side od the pump had hardly any tightness to them, could almost have hand turned them out, so we have decided it has just blown out the gasket on the drivers side. the passenger side gasket looks much different than the drivers side(clean). so, with 140k on the car, and it prob not the water pump, we are going to put a new one on anyway, along with a new sensor. so i bouth this car 4 moths ago, and have found out it has not been driven much the last 6 years. do you think the bolts loosened maybe due to a vibration (none apparent) or from sitting so long without being driven, and now being driven on average 120 miles a week, did do a 350 mile trip the weekend before the leak became apparent, with no issues.

also what id the fill and purge procedure to the air out of it once i refill
it. thanks for the help gents !

don hall

The LT1 is self bleeding..... just fill the system, leave the surge tank cap off, and run the engine to operating temp. You will notice when the tstat opens, and the coolant level drops. Add additional coolant,
replace cap.. done.

Yes, I've read horrible bubble stories, and I'm aware there are bleed screws, but just relax, and everything will be fine.

Check that the overflow bottle level increases when 'hot', and lowers during cool-down. If the level doesn't lower from the hot level when the engine is cold, the siphon is not working, which means there is a breach in the cooling system allowing air to enter. Check for loose or split hose ends, cap gasket deformed, etc.