1COOLPC

This is in a GTO but the motor is the same. My freeze plug is leaking coolant. It's the plug in the very front of the passenger side head. I'm hoping they can replace the plug. Any of you with leaking freeze plug experience is it basically just a straight plug change? I'm worried they're going to do something drastic like yank the head or swap the whole damn motor.... This stinks. I've had 3 LS1 cars and this is the first one to give me any problems with the motor. :nonod:






[Modified by 1COOLPC, 7:13 PM 4/9/2004]

Avanti

Replace the plug, what else? :yesnod:

All the best.

1COOLPC

I hope! That would only take a day.

7.0sc SuperVette

If you can't lay it up for a while "Bars Leak" will probably do the job and may be a permanent fix!
Roy

1COOLPC

I think I will give that a try. I've never had to use that kind of thing before. You just drop it in the fluid and run the car? How long until it is fixed? How much do I use?

Really anything is better than letting the Goat out of my sight.

7.0sc SuperVette

I just used it on a rental car that I didn't want to take the time to turn in to get another. It started to leak and formed a dripping stream when I stopped. I bought the thick grey top of the line stuff (that brand has several sizes and qualities).
I installed it according to instructions on the label, drove a few miles and voila-no leak!
I've used it on some big leaks, a "freeze plug" should be a piece o' cake! :D
Roy

1COOLPC

No long term ill affects for the engine? Is this something you would do to your own car? Thanks for the info.

7.0sc SuperVette

Yes I have, yes I would!
Roy
If you are worried, you can always flush it out when the dealer fixes it-but I think in the case of a "freeze plug", It will be permanent!

HalfMoon

Bars Leak is fine for a rental car, but I wouldn't put it in my C5, or your $35k GTO.

Take it to the dealership, request a rental car, and have it fixed right. I wouldn't ride with you through the Mojave desert on the way to Vegas if I knew you had a jury-rigged hack patch in there, I don't like walking the highways.

You've got a nice new car, take it back and have it fixed until you are satisfied.

1COOLPC

There is another thread discussing this problem and one person responding to it states himself to be on the assembly line of GM product. He says that not a single car leaves the plant without stop leak of some sort going into the coolant and if it wasn't done that there would be a lot more leaks in cooling systems than there are now. So, if he is telling the truth, this is really doing what the factory does when they manufacturer the car.

My debate is this, hand my car over to the dealership and let them do whatever it is they will do to my car.. This is not always a good thing.. Or, I can add some stop leak and take my chances.

The assembly line guy said to drop two tabs of the stuff in my coolant. But he didn't say two tabs of what... I would like to find and use what they use during manufacturer.

So, the bottom line is that all of our cars have stop leak in them already or we would all be leaking. According this this guy anyway.

1COOLPC

Here is the quote from a GM employee.

His profile is;

Location:
Kansas City Missouri
Interests:
Harley Davidsons/Corvette
Occupation:
General Motors Vehicle Manufacturing

I'm also going to add that I bet money the dealership is just going to take my car, drive it fast to lunch, hard to the grocery store and then add a tube of stop leak before they give it back.



[Modified by 1COOLPC, 11:45 PM 4/9/2004]

HalfMoon

I highly doubt that is true, but you never know. Chevrolet explicitly says not to add anything other than the fluid they use to the cooling system.

In any case, look at it this way, if you let the dealer do it and 10k miles from now the motor blows up, they can't tear it apart and blame you for adding sand/clay to your cooling system. This is a simple fix, and if you have any halfway competent dealers in your area (you don't say where you are and put 11111 for your zip code), you shouldn't hesitate to go in there and have it done under warranty.

The other thing is that when you take it in for service you are creating a record of the problem, so if it persists and you end up with a car that has lots of problems you are more likely to get a GM Regional Serivce Managers approval for repairs to keep you happy.

In the end it's your car and your money, but my dealership is very Corvette centric and Mod friendly.

Edit:

Call some Chevy dealers in your area that have a good work history with Corvettes, since the pontiac dealers are new to the LS1 motors.


[Modified by Tony_C5_04, 11:49 PM 4/9/2004]

HalfMoon

Okay, you need a new dealership then.

My dealer gave me a z06 as a rental for my Coupe when it was in the shop for 2 days. Service is a money making department for the dealership, if they aren't up to your standards find another.

1COOLPC

If I had more faith in my dealerships I would jump all over it but I don't. My gut feeling tells me I'm going to get stop leak no matter what and I'm going to have people joy riding my GTO around town. I have to hash this over the weekend and see how I feel on Monday. Going to try and research the stop leak going in at the factory too.

HalfMoon

man, this is the most replies to one post from me ever...... ;)


Like I said, even if they put in the sand/clay, at least you have a place to point the finger if something happens later and they blame that as the problem.

Driving it hard? I used to worry about that, but you should know that there's really no worry about harm to the motor. Again, find a good high-end dealer that specializes in Corvettes.

Good luck on our decision, try to get some sleep this weekend. ;)

Old Timer

There was a recent post about LS1 coolant leaks which discussed the factory practice of using GM sealant additives on the assembly line. A TSB was also posted which stated that GM had DISCONTINUED this practice on corvettes and some other aluminum engines.
If you decide to take it to the dealer, put a small identifying mark on the freeze plug and then you can keep them honest about what they did.
If you're worried about them thrashing the car use LS1 edit, Predator, or hypertech to set the rev limiter to 2500 RPM. :D :D :D


[Modified by Old Timer, 8:11 AM 4/10/2004]

1COOLPC

Good ideas Old Timer. :)

I did a little poking around and found this paragraph regarding a leak in the same place on another GTO.

1COOLPC

Well here's what I did at 2:08 in the morning. I can't sleep when things are messed up. I went out and drained the coolant. I took off the bolts around the freeze plug that hold a ground wire. There were 2. I took off the belt and removed the tensioner pulley assembly as that will give me even more room. Then I took a 1/2" drive extension and lightly tapped on one side of the plug. As one side went in the other started coming out. Eventually I had the plug half in and half out. I was nervous that it would go all the way inside the head. Then I wiggled it out with my fingers and had a freeze plug in my hand and a hole in my brand new car's cylinder head.

So I sized up the scene, I looked at how thick the freeze plug was and how thick the cylinder head walls were. I determined how far in the freeze plug show go to get 100% contact with it's edges. Then I painted the edges of the freeze plug with RTV and stuck it back in by hand as far as I could get it. I put a shallow socket that is nearly the size of the hole and tapped that thing in to a depth that seemed acceptable to me. I put all the parts I took off back on the engine.

I'm letting it sit for a while now so the RTV can set up. In the morning I will fill it back up with coolant and run the motor. I think it will be OK. I hope so, keep a good thought please.:blueangel:

Now I can get some sleep.

1COOLPC

Just for the record, here is the dealer's first fix. They gave these to me and my problem is on the computer. Otherwise they couldn't get to it for a week. If this doesn't work I take it back in.

gonbad

Good to see you back Bart. Going to go the C6?