Coolant leak need help

[Spawn1173]

My car has been leaking coolant and I replaced the coolant elbows with the aluminum ones already. I took an 1 1/2 hour trip and when I got back home i could smell coolant burning and noticed there was a pool of it on the valve cover bolts. Does anyone have any clue as to where this came from?
2001 GTP 177k miles

[Frosty]

Supercharged or N/A? The only coolant up there is the loop running through the intake manifold and into the throttlebody. Throttlebody gasket failure or plenum gasket failure can both cause coolant pooling up that high. If your not supercharged a warped or blown plenum can leak as well. If its pooling in the lower intake it can be what I mentioned before or a failed lower intake gasket. In rare cases it can be caused by someone not using thread sealant when doing a lower intake job.

[Spawn1173]

yeah its supercharged. so it could be the loop your refering to?

[Frosty]

Yes

The only coolant up there is the loop running through the intake manifold and into the throttlebody. Throttlebody gasket failure or plenum gasket failure can both cause coolant pooling up that high.

Or

If its pooling in the lower intake it can be what I mentioned before or a failed lower intake gasket. In rare cases it can be caused by someone not using thread sealant when doing a lower intake job.

[Scottydoggs]

only way you have coolant on the valve covers is if it sprayed there. keep looking, a hose can be messed up. top one by the t stat housing.

[Spawn1173]

i was starting to believe the UIM was the cause. Is that a possiblility?

[Scottydoggs]

like i said if the valve covers are wet it sprayed there.

lim bolts seep coolant and make puddles in the lim where the bolts are. but thats it, puddles.

[Frosty]

TB gasket failed on my brothers buick. Pin hole leak. Whenever he floored it a little stream would piss out and cover everything with orange ****. Replaced the gasket and no more issues.

My suggestion is to hose it all down. Dry it off. Then start it up and watch closely. Hell if you want to get really crazy a leaking water pump could be spraying coolant off the belts.

[Spawn1173]

and what looks like to me. a little plastic o ring

[Spawn1173]

alright ill try that also. i just noticed there's like a lake of antifreeze under the supercharger.

[Scottydoggs]

thats the coolant elbow. its leaking or blown out. those spray everywhere when they let go.

[Spawn1173]

are you talking about the 2 plastic ones on the front of the engine?

[Scottydoggs]

yes, if thats where the pool of coolant is. under the snout.

if you mean in the lim bolt valleys that could just be the bolts seeping coolant.

[Spawn1173]

no i replaced those already with the aluminum ones. its like the little valley underneith the supercharger behind the fuel injectors

[Scottydoggs]

those are lim bolt valleys. time for a lim job. theres thread sealant on those bolts. it fails after 15 years, or sooner. when you do the lim gasket job you clean the bolts and brush new sealant on the threads. those bolts go into the heads coolant jackets.

[Spawn1173]

what kind of sealant? sorry noob questions

[Scottydoggs]

this brand or peratex also works.



i got this little tub. has a brush on the cap. looks like ill be using it again when i do my water pump again. its costs like 6 to 8 bucks for the tub, cheaper for a tube.

[Spawn1173]

okay i got a tube of the permatex. are there any othere gaskets i need to do while im in there? broke but willing to do it if its necessary.

[Spawn1173]

and is it worth going with the plastic/rubber gasket for $45? its 75 bucks for the rubber/steel one.

[Scottydoggs]

a lim job will run you about a 100 bucks in all if your shop wisely.

oil change 25 bucks.

lim gaskets 45 ish.

coolant elbows 10. i know you just changed them but you'll need at least a new set of o rings for the top one. no need to take the alt bracket off either.

coolant 15

upper plenum gasket for a gen 3 is 12 bucks. gen 5 is like 40 aka supercharger gasket. they dont call it a sc gasket. its a upper plenum gasket.

you can pass on the tb, t stat and coolant side cover gaskets, as long as you dont open them up.

5 bucks worth of new vac lines and T's. they will break, so buy new ones. best t's ive found are sold at advance auto. nice small white t's, 2 for two bucks. vac line is a buck a foot or less.

the fat hose off the tb to evap will break too, so get 5 inches of that size too.