can't find source of coolant leak, VP

[Loungefly]

Hey all,

I'm having a hell of a time trying to figure out the source of a coolant leak and was hoping to get some input.

Today I headed off to AutoPro to pick up a new water pump. A couple months back I took it to a mechanic and he mentioned that a coolant leak problem I was having was due to a bad water pump. He added some stop leak stuff which seemed to help for a while but over time the coolant loss came back and got worse. Cut to today and I figured i wouldn't let it wait any longer. I added some water to the radiator before I headed off. Before I got there I pulled over and had a look at the engine to see if I could spot anything noticeable and I can see a steady drip coming from a different area (nothing directly from the water pump).

I traced it up as far as I could see without any obstructions and it seems to be coming from somewhere near the wiring harness next to the alternator (basically above, behind, and to the right of the water pump). The closest visible hoses don't have any leakage dropping near them.

Apologies in advance for the quality of the shots below. The arrow in the first pic is just the area where the water was dripping down. The circled area in the second pic is the highest areas where I could see noticeable traces of leakage. The third pic is just highlighting another spot where it seems to be dripping down at an angle before it drops straight down. Probably not much help I know, but I figured it's better than nothing ( I think).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[vncruzr]

mate from memory, thats around the same position as the temp sender.try and move your alternator and have a better look. if the leak is any higher, id dare say it will be your inlet manifold gasket. you can get the gasket set from holden for about 50-70 bucks, cant remember plus coolant and thermastat housing gasket. just over a hundred to get and take about a day to do or halfa if your rushed.

[camstatic]

Rip off the inlet manifold, replace the gaskets and the heater pipe connections. It is a lot easier to do this than it looks, just make sure you disconnect the battery before you remove the alternator, if you touch that charge wire on your fuel rail, you'll know about it.

[Pimpn1]

as said above either inlet manifold gasket or maybe the welch plug behind the harness there as thats what was wrong with my vn, i replaced inlet water pump and welch plug

[Fu Manchu]

In that area there are a few options to check as mentioned. You will need to remove as many accessories etc to really see. The toughest repair will be the manifold seals but as mentioned it looks harder than it is

[badass77impala]

the worst part of the intake manifold is to make sure the "pin holes" in the head are cleared out the old aligment pins in the old gasket set tend to break off in there but its only plastic and a small flat screwdriver will dig them out.

[badass77impala]

b.t.w. where are ya located at mate?

[gdunkley84]

I'd say it is the stupid little plastic hose barb from the heater hose that runs in the front there.

About $10 from Holden and if it is make sure you get their o-ring to fit it. It's held in by one bolt into the front of the manifold and will probably snap off if you yank it too hard. I had to take of my thermo housing and push it out from the inside.

The other end of this hose. (in red)

[centy]

under alternator you have heater bypass hose temperature sensor and coolant temp sensor. all very close together.
Do you have coolant pooled under the top hose in the manifold?

[Loungefly]

Sorry for the late reply as I've been out of town for the last couple weeks due to a family emergency.

Thanks everyone for the tips. I did get manage to get behind the alternator wiring harness and it definitely looked as if the intake manifold gasket was most likely the issue.

Just to cover myself a took it to a local mechanic this morning (someone I've dealt with before and have deemed trustworthy by past experience etc etc) and got them to check it out. Turns out it looks worse than I had anticipated.

He found a crack in the radiator (which I had overlooked before as it's in an inconspicious area and not massive), he did mention that the intake manifold gasket needed replacing. He also mentioned that there was way too much pressure in the radiator hoses. He put a hydrocarbon sensor down in the radiator and it detected exhaust fumes which he said most likely points to a blown head gasket.

He said I'm looking at $1300-$1400 to replace the radiator, the intake manifold gasket, and the head gasket. Needless to say I wasn't happy :P

Now, I'm more than capable of buying and installing a radiator myself, and I'm willing to give the intake manifold gasket a go myself (just going by what everyone here has been saying) to save some money, but the head gasket I'd have to leave to someone else and no doubt that would be the bulk of the expense. I suppose I should have gotten a quote on just the head gasket itself while I was there, but I was so pissed off when he told me that I just wanted to leave and go vent to the Mrs. about this car.

We had a used engine put in about 2 1/2 years ago (from memory it was $1700 and some change) and even back then it was an "iffy" decision on our part. We recently had a few hundred dollars worth of brake work done on it in in order to pass the rego...and now this.

I'm in one of those situations where I think it's foolish to keep pouring money into this car, yet we don't have enough money to fork out for another used car altogether (well, nothing as or more reliable than what we have now anyway). I'm stuck at this point, and it's frustrating as hell. Any input would be appreciated.

Anyhoo, I just wanna say I do appreciate the info everyone here has been offering in regards to what I had thought (and hoped) was just a simple coolant leak. Lots of good information here.

[DavoVP]

There's a couple of " how to " guide's geting around for a head gasket, But I think It may just be your inlet manifold gasket, they can cause all sorts of drama's includeing water in your oil and vice versa.

[Matt_vp]

Do a compression test on her. If you can use a socket set and can read, the head gaskets arn't hard to change.
Matt