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Hi!. I have a 1991 , I drove it to work parked and saw smoke coming out the drivers side of the hood, then some nasty brown water fluid came out the bottom, , I was scared to drive it, had it towed home, and there she sits!... I was doing some reading that it may be a knocker sensor , or freeze plug... Any idea which I should check first?. I had no dash codes , it was running a little warm, water pump , temp sensor and thermostat was recently replaced, and since it's water that was leaking , I'm not sure where to look?.. Any suggestions would be Greatly appreciated, since I try and do the work myself!. Thanks in advance!.. Oh also how tough are these to replace??
Hi!. I have a 1991 , I drove it to work parked and saw smoke coming out the drivers side of the hood, then some nasty brown water fluid came out the bottom, , I was scared to drive it, had it towed home, and there she sits!... I was doing some reading that it may be a knocker sensor , or freeze plug... Any idea which I should check first?. I had no dash codes , it was running a little warm, water pump , temp sensor and thermostat was recently replaced, and since it's water that was leaking , I'm not sure where to look?.. Any suggestions would be Greatly appreciated, since I try and do the work myself!. Thanks in advance!.. Oh also how tough are these to replace??
There could be many possibilities on a '91 for a massive coolant leak in the vicinity that you mention. There's a pair of coolant hoses there for the engine oil cooler if you have the option. If your car has a KC4 option look at this link in the varius snapshots and you can see what I've mentioned. The fifth image is what I'd guess the most likely if you've the KC4 option:
If you don't have the KC4 option the freeze plug or knock sensor catastrophic failure are the next more likely I would think. In the driveway neither is a pleasant task, freeze plug is likely a "shop job" but the knock sensor a possibility.
I would doubt it would be the knock sensor, because it's more like a plug. You have to jack it up and look. Coolant will most likely leave a path to the culprit.
I would doubt it would be the knock sensor, because it's more like a plug. You have to jack it up and look. Coolant will most likely leave a path to the culprit.
Ok, it's been parked for a week, haven't really had time to even check it out, I do know the radiator is empty, but there is a little coolant left in the resovior, what came out underneath was a brown rusty color. Are the freeze plugs difficult to replace,? Thank you!
Are the freeze plugs difficult to replace,? Thank you!
That depends on which one is bad. The rear one is easy. The front one is behind the motor mount. That one is tough. If it's the front one I recommend taking off the exhaust manifold to get access to it. The motor mount needs to come out.
Fill the car with water and crawl under it and find out where it is leaking, after that ask advice on how to fix it.
It could be anything?...The throttle body coolant lines could've leaked, radiator hoses, intake manifold leak...Also, brown water is a sign of neglected cooling system service.
You need to clean up the area under the engine to find out where the water is coming from.
When I had a coolant leak it appeared to be coming from the oil cooler hoses. After I tightened them up I found that the front freeze plug had a hole in it and it was dripping down onto the oil cooler hoses.