external coolant leak ?
 

Hi all,

Background info; An 83 300 D w/145K. Fairly new radiator and fan clutch and t-stat, all within 4000 miles, waterpump was replaced 55k ago, no coolant loss although car would at times run slightly warm, up to 100, even in cool weather not using A/C. Normally, this car runs about 85.

Yesterday, I installed a new t-stat, only to find out today that I had installed it backwards. UGH! Engine temp last night went to 110! At any rate, after correcting the problem today, I now have 2 external coolant leaks. One appears at the transmission! it drips down almost out of the little hole down there. The other location, I cannot determine, kind of near the starter?

The leaks are coolant, as the resovoir has steadly lost its contents from today. All connections/clamps/hoses and t-stat housing appear dry. The car never ran warm today. Head gasket appears fine. Oil appears ok too, level is at least the same as it was yesterday. Hope I didn't really cause some damage yesterday evening.

Anybody experience this? Other comments on where these leaks might originate is appreciated.

P.S. Forgot to mention that I replaced the temp. sensor last week, resulting in no changes.

Are you saying that all the hoses and connections near the firewall at the back of the engine and around the monovalve are dry?

My hunch is that the water pump gasket might have given way. I've had this happen several times on various cars. Check to see if anything is coming out of the weep hole (located on the front of the engine directly behind the fan)

dp

I hope that it is just a water pump gasket as suggested. I had a less than typical experience with the V6 in my lexus where I developed an external leak (significant drip) from the block face where it meets the head. No water in oil, temperature rise at idle-normal going down the road, and steady loss of coolant.

It turned out to be a blown head gasket that resulted only in an external coolant leak. This was the infamous toyota iron block/aluminum head.

I would check for any signs of water in the oil and take the radiator cap off while running to check for bubbles. Or you could get a radiator pressure tester to pump up the system to provoke a leak.

Just my thoughts and I hope I'm wrong. Good luck!

Yes


Apache,

I hope so as well.

I took it from his 'oil is ok' comment that he'd checked for coolant in the oil. But perhaps I assumed that.

Hope for the best

dp

Hello D. Don,

I appreciate you bringing up this point.

With the amount of coolant lost, (in my driveway) est. at 1/2 gallon - 1 gallon, there would be more oil volumne, on the dipstick, no? However, I haven't drained it yet to actually check. Maybe tomorrow. The dipstick oil looked just as black with the usual consistancy, no milkshake like or brown appearance.

Wish I hadn't attempted to fix what wasn't broken. Seems like a good time for me to read Carrameow's overfixing post since I haven't as of yet.