Hey, all, this is my first post here, and I'm a bit confused. I'm trying to figure out where my adult daughter's leak is coming from in her 3.8. She called me up one morning and said her car was showing hot, (but not topping out in the red), and the heater hadn't been working right, either. I had her bring it over and I pulled the heater hoses and applied air pressure to back flush the Dexcool crud out of it (fixed the heating problem), then changed the thermostat, added about 3 quarts of water, and it seemed to fix the temp gauge issue. I told her to bring it back a couple of days later so I could flush the radiator and engine.
Well, since this was my first go round with a grand prix, I wasn't aware of them not having radiator drain plug, and after a frustrating attempt at getting to the lower hose clamp, then finding out the tool to allow me to get it off there was $70 at NAPA, I just had her take it to a local mechanic to flush on her next day off. We scheduled her with a reputable local shop, and they did the vacuum/flush route.
A day or two later there was a puddle of antifreeze under her car, about 8" in diameter. I had her bring it back over on her next day off so I could find the leak. When I couldn't locate the leak, I took it back to the shop that flushed it and asked them to check it. I also asked how much pressure they used to back flush it. The guy checked out the engine running, and showed me with a mirror where he thought it was leaking, which was at the lower right hand side of the timing chain housing, right behind a bolt, and told me he thought the timing chain cover gasket was leaking, and it was a common problem with "these engines". I was thinking he might have put too much pressure to it when flushing it and blew a gasket, but he assured me it was just enough to force the water out.
Anyway, I'm the kind of guy who works on my own vehicles, but sideways engines are a pet peeve of mine. But what I don't understand is, why would a coolant leak be coming from the timing chain housing?? There's no coolant in a timing chain. Also, I should mention, the upper plastic elbow isn't leaking, and if the lower is, I can't even find that part. The closest I came to that was unhooking the heater hoses to flush it, but there was nothing leaking there. Is there something that might be leaking at the water pump that I'm not seeing? Is this "the timing chain cover gasket is the culprit, and you may as well get a new water pump while you're at it" call a common problem or a common scam? Oh, yeah, he quoted me $400-450 for the cover gasket replacement job, and I'd have to pay for a water pump if I went ahead a replaced that, too.
This all rubs me the wrong way due to an instance I had some year back where I had the heads replaced on an '82 350 Blazer by a local Chevy dealer shop, and when they were done, the told me the head was cracked and leaking coolant. The kid showed me the leak, which I was unsure of it's source, but I had them pull it so I could take it back to the guy who rebuilt the heads and mag tested it. No cracks whatsoever. I took it to another shop, which correctly told me when the dealer put the water pump back on, the gasket didn't seal and it was the water pump leaking, not the head gasket. I've lost all faith in not only shops telling me the truth, but worse than that, incorrect evaluations.
So, I'm here to ask all of you experts on these cars, why would a timing chain be leaking coolant and not oil? I'm a retired Ironworker, but I don't like forking over money to fix something that wasn't the problem. Thanks in advance for any comments or advice. Butch Butcher