Overheating and loss of coolant

[eshina17]

Okay I need some help here friends. My 97 GTP has not been running very well lately. In fact I havent driven it in about two weeks. This summer I did a LIM gasket replacement. After doing this I flushed the coolant - which was very sludgy from the oil that found its way into the coolant. It drove fairly well after the gasket job. About a month ago I starting having an overheating issue. The temp would run around 210 and higher. I got the temp to stay lower when I bled the coolant system of air. That helped for a while. The last day i drove it, the temp got into the 260 range which made the temp light to come on. I pulled over, noticed some smoke coming from the engine. Let it cool down for 20 minutes, and checked the coolant. I had to add about a gallon to the radiator, which was full just a few days prior. When I got the car home and cool, I added more water to the radiator. A minute after, I heard the water dripping onto the ground. I looked under the car to see where exactly it was coming from. Im assuming it was leaking from either the water pump or the a/c compressor, or at least thats the area it was dripping from. It seemed to be dripping out of some kind of pan with a few holes in it. Dont know what this is to, but i think thats right under the a/c compressor. So I just dont know what to do to fix this issue. Sorry for the rant but any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Scottydoggs]

water pump or coolant elbows probably blew up.

did you take the alt bracket off when you did the lim job? or just changed the upper elbow? the cast elbow on the bracket can leak too, its go a O ring on it, you steel the one off the new pair of elbows and put it on the cast elbow.

[Scottydoggs]

and that brown sludge was not oil in the coolant, thats about impossible to happen, that was dex sludge you flushed out of the cooling system. hoping you switched to green coolant after the flush.

[02NavyBlue]

What he said ^ When my lower coolant elbow was leaking, it was coming out of the same spot you're talking about. The pan with a few holes you mentioned is actually the motor mount area of the subframe. That's exactly where my coolant ended up. So either the elbow(s) or the water pump.


(behind the oil pan in this picture)

[eshina17]

Okay guys, finally replaced my coolant elbow and o-ring. Also replaced the thermostat with a 180 degree to keep it running cooler. All went well, filled the coolant up, had to get a jump but got it running. Drove it home and the temp stayed around 160 (Its very cold where i live now so the cold air kept the engine very cool). However, when I drove to my hometown for thanksgiving, I noticed the temp rising again. Checked the fluids and coolant was yet again low. Parked it in my driveway overnight and in the morning I noticed coolant all over the ground. When i filled it with coolant to drive back home, coolant started leaking out again - seems like the same issue as before. So i'm guessing the elbow wasnt the only issue. Maybe water pump gasket? I couldnt really see where it was leaking from, but seems to be right around the elbows/water pump. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[02NavyBlue]

I've got the same issue as you now lol. Leaks from somewhere other than the elbows but is coming from that area. I'll look into it further when it's not raining, I'll check for play in the water pump pulley.

[eshina17]

Update on the GTP:

Well about 5 weeks ago I lost power steering. Had to drive home from school through the snow without power steering... Not fun. Finally got the car into my garage last weekend to work on it. Was still leaking coolant and couldn't figure out exactly where it was coming from. Bought a new water pump in hopes that was the issue. Unbolted and removed alt to get to water pump. Power steering pump has to come off in order to get the water pump off - which wasnt bad for me since I figured the power steering pump had to be replaced as well. Took off the power steering pump and figured out why I lost power steering. The shaft that the pulley is mounted to that goes into the pump was completely sheered off. So the pulley was spinning but not running the pump. Took off the old water pump, which actually was working fine, spinning without resistance. But I figured it would be better to replace the pump since I had it off anyway. The gasket on the other hand, was complete trash. Used RTV to get the new gasket on the new pump (used RTV on both sides of gasket), cleaned off the 4 short and 4 long bolts for the pump with a wire brush. Used thread lock blue on all 8 water pump bolts and tightened it down. While removing the power steering pump from the lines, the pressure line was so corroded onto the pump that I actually twisted and crimped the line. So that had to be replaced as well - which was probably the most difficult part of the repair. Got the new pressure line on, new power steering pump installed, and new water pump installed. Got everything put back together, belts on and fluids filled. Finished around 5am after working all day. But, power steering was working again, took it out for a test drive and the temp gauge stayed right around 160F. I have a 180F t-stat installed so it runs a little cooler. Coolant was not leaking, and it ran great! So guess I was right all along! Coolant leak was coming from the water pump seal. Sorry for the long rant, but its all fixed now and running like a GTP again!