Hello all,

I can't seem to locate a coolant leak on the right (passenger) rear near the firewall. All my hoses there are dry that I can see on top. Doesn't overheat or blow white smoke out the exhaust. Oil is perfect so no blown head gasket.

I'm stumped as I can crawl under the car and it has a very slow drip. It's bouncing off one of the shafts under there and hitting the Cat, which is why I am smelling burning coolant.

Any suggestions? I tried to search but couldn't find anything.

Leo

 

Leaking head gasket at rear water jacket. sorry

 

Indeed it is.... Indeed it is.

You won't have the same symptoms as that of a headgasket which is degraded at any other point of the cylinder head (ie. Fluids mixing, locomotive sound where exhaust escapes, quickly over-heating, poor engine performance) but head-gasket fault nonetheless, that can only become worse. I went through the exact same scenario a few months ago.

 

Well, this sucks as I just did the whole intake/o-rings refresh about a year ago.

 

Well, think of it this way: you will be proficient at that part of the tear down and assembly!

 

The head gaskets at the rear of the heads are quite narrow, maybe 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch. That's where they often fail. That's how mine failed except on the driver's side. Same with my friend's that we did a few months before we did mine. I have no hard and fast information but from what I've seen on these forums I expect more fail that way than in the more dramatic ways.

 

Yeah, I have to top/fill the Coolant Reservoir every week now. I noticed it after I fixed the leak at the Throttle body. My guess now more pressure at that had gasket area made it worse. Oh well, is what is and i should have done this when i had the whole intake off. Any suggestions on a good brand for head gaskets and ones to stay away from?

 

unfortunately; that is how it works fix one leak, and when pressure increases and shows another leak.
I've used cheap AB gasket and felpro gasket and never notice a real difference in the fit.

 

Thanks for that. I've seen full gasket kits that include the head bolts too. I may go that route. I also think I will make sure the valley gasket is metal this time. I will monitor the leak as I am just not motivated to do this anytime super soon.

 

just make sure you keep an eye on it.
if the level goes down the heads will get hot, and the oil will start baking up there.

the gasket and bolts as all suggestive, you can get oem quality gasket and bolts for $100-120.
or you can go with felpro and ARP studs for $350.