Coolant leak near back of engine? Hmm...
 

So I drove up to my folk's for Christmas, about 100 miles, and I parked my car in their driveway. The temperature dropped down to about mid 20s that night. The next day I spotted some coolant under my car. I followed the trail of drips to the origin of the coolant leak just under the intake manifold somewhere, the drip drips down the engine. Drove the car back home and saw a bit of a drip when I returned home. Total amount of coolant loss was negligible. I just took the car to my indy and he was surprised to see coolant on that part of the engine. He said he'd re-torque the head and thought that would take car of it. What do you think?

Also, my car has shown no signs of a cracked head----oil in coolant, coolant in oil, coolant smell in cabin, overheating.......

Cold water leak, most likely. I used to see this a lot on trucks, get down to just below freezing and the aluminum coolant fittings would contract more than the steel clamps.
Does a heater hose connect somewhere nearby? It could be leaking from there and just running along the surface of the block.

Yeah, I'm hoping for the cold water leak thing. I found a couple threads that mentioned that. I just haven't really found any info on a leak in my particular area. I know 617 cracked heads are pretty rare but, not knowing the full history of the car, it still has me slightly concerned and I'm just looking for other opinions.

I was thinking heater hoses at first too, but those mostly seem too far back or too far forward, I don't know of any heater hoses that would allow coolant to leak onto the engine just below the intake manifold and just behind the exhaust manifold. But then, I really don't know too much...

Keep an eye on the coolant. Don't be too alarmed. I would have to remind myself that this is a 25 year old diesel engine. Probably just nature of the beast.

Ahh, those may be the words I need to hear. :splat:

It would be worthwhile to inspect the numerous heater hoses and connections on the firewall. A small leak from a hose can spray coolant in a way that makes it appear that the leak originates elsewhere.

I agree with tangofox. There is a heater line running under the inlet manifold. it could have a leak that is spraying over, otherwise is there a welsh plug near by?