Antifreeze leak
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 23,367
Likes: 1,061
From: Virginia USA
Antifreeze leak
This is not on my car (thank God) but my cousin’s 1974 Chevelle with a 350. I am on my way to help him find it and wanted to get the professional opinions from my good friends here for help. It is an intermittent leak and he tells me it seems to be coming from the passenger side of the water pump to block. I have not looked at it yet but a quick question. 350's have the 3 holes on the passenger side of the block where the water pump bolts up, if the lower hole has no blot in it will it leak (I can't remember what it looked like the last time I had a water pump off). We are going to remove all the bolts one at a time and reseal them to see if that fixes it, if not then we are going to take the pump off and replace the gaskets. I am afraid if that doesn’t fix it then he may have a cracked block or bad head gasket. Any suggestions would help.
Thanks
John
Thanks
John
Drifting
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 1,514
Likes: 1
Re: Antifreeze leak (theandies)
Probably the gasket, look at the vent hole of the pump too. I've seen the pump start to leak thru the vent hole and the fluid run down to another spot to fool you into thinking thats where the leak is.
I just use some Permatex #2 on the gaskets when putting a waterpump on
and as long as everthing is clean I've never had a sealing problem.
Scott
I just use some Permatex #2 on the gaskets when putting a waterpump on
and as long as everthing is clean I've never had a sealing problem.
Scott
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 4,004
Likes: 2
From: Severna Park Md
Re: Antifreeze leak (Scott78)
Heres a trick I have used to help prevent pressure build up and leaks and blowouts. This has worked great on my Pontiac 4cyl with an external water jacket crack in the block. I removed the bottom rubber gasket from the rad cap but still screw the cap on all the way. This keeps the water from leaking out the cap as it does when some people put the cap on half way to prevent pressure build up. As pressure builds it leaks past the bottom cap seal but is still contained within the overflow system tank. If water does leak out somewhere, the water in the overflow tank gets drawn in to replace it. Just keep the overflow tank filled and the rad will never get low. Of coarse fixing the leak is the best way. However when you have old decrepid machines like me, jerry rigs like this can save some trouble. Laugh if you want but it works great on my cracked block Pontiac. Been cracked a couple years now and very seldom do I actuall need to add water. Im also not ever worried about a pressure blowout of a hose or something.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 23,367
Likes: 1,061
From: Virginia USA
Re: Antifreeze leak (Jvette73)
We found the leak. It turned out to be the intake manifold gasket on the front passenger side of the engine. We are going to change it soon (I have to move into my new house first) so he is not going to drive it until we reseal the intake. :smash: :smash: :smash:
John
John
