VS Calais 5.0 litre Coolant leak. HELP

[morves]

Hi everyone

My first post here.
I have picked up a sweet 1996 VS Calais Series 2 5.0 litre. Sweet paint, clean interior and engine bay. Just under 200 thou km's.
Seems to drive well, little bit of diff whine, but I expect that with a car of this age.

Since having it though, I have noticed that it has a smallish coolant leak (enough for a little puddle). The leak seems to be coming from the rear area of the engine, i can see it on the frame/chassis/bracket that is behind the engine sump and it drips off from there. I can't see exactly the point where it originates.

I was hoping someone may have some experience, suggest the source or a solution. Hopefully its not bad news.:doh:

As this is my first V8(4 bangers, V6's previous), i'm not all that familiar with component locations, I'm looking at picking up a manual.

Other than this I am loving the car.

Thanks guys

 

[VS 5.0]

Try checking that the hoses going into the fire wall are all nice & tight. I had a mystery coolant leak a while ago and even under pressure it was tricky to find but coming from there.

Oh, and time to start a ride thread. Need to see pics of this.

 

[vsv8berlinawag]

Mine started a mysterious leak around the same K's as yours a couple of years ago ie dropping random pools of coolant on the garage floor which gradually became worse, and found it to be the inlet manifold (drivers front side). Suggest you take it for a drive to bring the temp up to normal, take your fuel injector covers off and grab one of those LED torches and check where your inlet manifold (bananas) mates with the block. Look for a brown stain and/or coolant. Takes around a day to remove and replace the gaskets and seals which are fairly inexpensive to buy from Holdens ie under $50 or so ???

Manifold removed...

 

[morves]

Cheers for the replies

Sounds like a pain in the arse, still just glad no one said blown head gasket as I would have been quite unhappy

Will start a ride thread soon

Look to spend a bit of time on this site i'd say

Ta.

 

[Kruza]

ive just found i had a leak in my vr caprice 5.0l.. mine is from the back of the motor, between the motor and gearbox..
it was a pinhole in the welsh plug leaking water onto the top of the starter motor...

failing that, check all the hoses along the top of the motor, heater tap to the firewall, etc.. could be a rotten hose, or rusted pipe somewhere...