Collant leak on Chevy 350

TeamGreen · November 15, 2001

Collant is leaking towards the back on my stock chevy 350. The coolant is dripping down from the front of the tranny pan. Could the intake manifold gasket be bad or a freeze plug?

lowflyer · November 16, 2001

Could be either or. If it were a manifold gasket, I would assume that you would see it elsewhere on the engine, possibly inside the motor. Check your plugs and oil.

If its and external leak from a freeze plug, you should see steam or coolant pushing out when the truck is warmed up and running. If you still don't see it from the outside, try pulling the inspection cover off of the bottom of the motor (if its an auto) and see if you can see steam, fluid or smell anti-freeze. There are freeze plugs on the back of the motor behind the flex plate/flywheel. Pull off the clutch fork boot, on a manual.

BTW, did you check to see if its possibly coming from a heater hose? Maybe where it meets the firewall as it goes into the heater core. Good luck and keep us posted.

TeamGreen · November 16, 2001

I don't think its coming from a heater hose. The coolant is dripping from somewhere behind the engine. Its probably a freeze plug cause theres no coolant in the oil but i'll check the plugs. I might pull the flywheel so I can see where its coming from but ive never done it before.

55boti · November 16, 2001

If you know someone at a local repair shop get them to pressurize the system with the hand pump on the radiator .If you can't see the leak you should be able to hear it.

95 Silverado · November 16, 2001

when you say dripping off the tranny pan, do you mean, from the top of the transmission, dripping off the trans oil pan, or from the flywheel cover pan? if it's coming from the top it is probably the intake manifold gasket, if it's coming from inside the flywheel pan it has to be the frost plugs behind the flywheel. My first guess would be the intake gasket, it's a common problem, not bad to fix.

76BBSub · November 16, 2001

If I recall correctly the intake manifolds were prone to leaking on the early-mid '90s truck engines. See if you can look behind the intake manifold and isolate the location of the leak. If you can follow the wet trail up the back of the engine that will help as well.

Jeff

TeamGreen · November 16, 2001

If I take off the torque converter cover could I see the back of the engine well enough to see where the leak is coming from?

lowflyer · November 17, 2001

Quote from TeamGreen, posted on Nov. 16 2001,5:48

If I take off the torque converter cover could I see the back of the engine well enough to see where the leak is coming from?

No, you won't be able to see anything on the engine side from there. You'll have to pull the trans, torque converter and flexplate to see the back of the motor.

As was stated earlier, I would pressurize the system to make sure that you don't see the coolant leaking frome anywhere else first. Pulling the flexplate off is a big project, and you want to make sure that you ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, HAVE TO do it!! Good luck.