I have a small coolant leak that I have been working with, turns out the hose in the upper right corner of the radiator had started to go bad and leaking a bit so that is solved, it also looks like the throttle body gasket has leaked in the past (from dried splatters of coolant) so I have a new one of those on the way and will replace this weekend, but it does not appear that is where the coolant is coming from on the reg, but I am still getting a few drops when I park it from that right hand corner of the car. Questions:
Is it safe to use dye to find a leak?
Are there any trick to finding a leak that I am not aware of other than spending $50 for a compression test?
My current plan is to get under the hood, wipe everything down and stare at hoses until I find something that doesnt look right but I was wanted to see if anyone had any additional insight or know another common right side collant leak other than throttle body or that hose.

 

Just put a little bottle of dye in. After driving around a bit it will become obvious where the leak is. My bet is the front cover but who knows.

 

Front Cover to the radiator?

 

Make sure you buy dye that is specified for dexcool, if thats what you're running. Autozone has it.

 

Engine front cover

That is just for color, you need a UV light for that dye also. I don't use dex so I just use the green dye. You can use the green dye in dex it will of course change the color to green so keep that in mind if someone top off your coolant and thinks its green.

 

Do a coolant pressure test an you will know the results in 15 minutes.

 

[quote=lipadj46;207006]Engine front cover


Is that the Rocker Cover in the Rave Manual

 

[QUOTE=DiscoBenjamin;207051]No the rave probably calls it the timing cover

 

Thats where my head gasket was leaking from. Pull off the a/c compressor, ps pump, and the accessory bracket to get a good look.