Persistent coolant leak

[PeteyPathy]

I recently picked up an 87 pathy 4x4 VG30i overall really good condition, has persistent coolant leak, i say persistent because the PO obviously put some work into it. New radiator, all new hoses, gobs of RTV squished out of thermstat housing, and upper water outlet housing. I immediately went for thermostat, when i cracked it off and buffed the massive amount of RTV off i found sealing surface to badly pitted, and inside block to be full of rust mud! New thermostat housing easy at local parts house. Found small hole in thermostat bypass hose, replaced it.

 

It has what i refer to as "cold" water leak, drips coolant from back of engine upon start up, when it comes up to operating temp can smell coolant but no drips visible.

 

Question 1 can anyone tell me where i might find a replacement upper water outlet? Since poor thing obviously spent long time running on water instead of coolant i want to have new one on hand before breaking seal on old. Can't seem to be able to locate one though.

 

Question 2 is it common for there to be coolant leak under the intake plentum. If so what other parts/gaskets might i need. Last VG30 i had never lost a drop. I plan to replace waterpump/timing belt very soon. Will be doing extensive coolant system flush at that time to clear rust out. Also does anyone know if they still make the Kevlar timing belts for VG30 i bought one years and years ago for 300ZX i used to have.

 

Thanks guys

[bushnut]

HI Pete, Not sure about the VG30 but my VG33 leaks a little coolant from the throttle body. there is a temperature switch there for the cold start that pushes the throttle open until the engine warms up. Mine weeps so slowly that I haven't bothered with it.

[Kingman]

There is a heater core pipe that runs under the plenum. It's got 2 gaskets on it, one in the front and one in the back. If you get a mirror and a light you can finagle them to where you can see under the plenum. The intake manifold gaskets might be leaking as well. The coolant can pool up in the valley and evaporate before ever hitting the ground.

[PeteyPathy]

@kingman thanks. I'll see if i can work my bore scope in there and see what I see.

 

Anyone have info regarding replacement for the Upper water outlet? I've checked rockauto, parts houses, even local dealership no luck on. I'll post where I find the timing belt at it sucks to loose a motor to hard driving.

[PeteyPathy]

Update, pulled upper water outlet, found bottom of gasket folded inside tube, actually had 2 cork gaskets and ton of RTV in/on joint biggest problem was PO appearantly lost one of the bolts and tried to replace with a standard thread bolt only went in about 3 threads before it got hard so they tried to fill in gap where wouldn't tighten properly. I ran thread chaser through, cleaned up, installed correct paper gasket, and put in correct metric bolts sealed up nice and tight, no more leaking or overheating.

 

Some people really shouldn't be allowed to hold wrenches......

[bushnut]

agreed! some people should never have made it through puberty but thats life. it's not dangerous enough.

glade you've fixed it proper.

I've found that most people live by the saying "never time to do it right but always time to do it twice".

[PeteyPathy]

I'm a mechanic for a living. I don't do double work if I can possibly avoid it do a little extra now save yourself trouble down the road. Redo is twice the work for half the pay.