Coolant leak

[Fishframe]

The $64M question is where is the leak actually coming from? I couldn’t rest easy until I knew for sure.

[bjm]

I presume you are aware of the coolant system bleed screw on top of the thermostat housing. When hot unscrew slightly tolet the air out.Another wellknown area for leaking is from thermostat housing oring.This leak only happens when coolant cold.Mine leak ran down engine block ,sump overnight Had me stumped for ages.Might also pay to have a radiator pressure test.Also at the same time ask for a coolant hydrocarbon test to dismiss head gasket failure.

[drover]

Sounds like you did it all correctly, though I do like to give a fresh water flush when changing, and thats drain old stuff, fill with rain water go for a run, dump and fill with the pink stuff...........I like Nulon and I would say youv'e flushed some old stop leak that was added to stop a weep, adding your stop leak will be okay and while they say only for a short time Ivee had it in systems for many, many kms I have used the nulon or penrite stuff.......
If you had held off for a couple of hundred Kms you may have found the weeping bit, with coolant like fuel leaks a little bit goes a long way, if oyu find the colour but its practically dry the its very slow, when theres a lot of clour and a wet snail trail then its active often.........in can also originate well away from the area it stains.......
Overall I would say your good but do keep an eye on things for awhile, run the engine up till warms up with header tank cap off, the coolant shouldn't be fizzy or have a head on it, no oil slick either.

[SouthernComfort]

Never really comfortable with stop leak fixes, not saying it's ineffective, but any leak comes from something either loose, broken or worn. I'd always want to establish that first. Once you know the source you're not in the dark, then decide whether a mechanical fix or a stop leak fix is the go.

I had the same experience as bjm, coolant made a long and mostly undetectable trail before dripping to the ground under the middle of the engine area. It was the water pump O ring.

[drover]

I agree with you on that @SouthernComfort, always best to know location especially if from a hose connection or joint, sometimes everything is good but still weeps and a major in chassis pull down to fix, then I will go to stop leak, no more leak then all good but if starts again then out comes the tool box........

[IFLYRC]

Ok, it started leaking again..... I now suspect that the culprit is the rubber hose section in the turbo cooling hose....the one below the intake manifold. I saw some pink spray spots looking towards the back of the engine to the firewall. I did take pics, but only after I cleaned it. The spray marks were where the circles are on the two pics.

Dealer quoted $2000 for the job. Only the turbo water cooler hose is $700!!!! Hose and Intake manifold gasket kit from USA is only US$170, including shipping.

So, I decided to do the job myself, with the help of a friend. Any suggestions???????????

Thanks heaps again.

Ed

[OLMATE]

take some pictures mate of the job especially the hose,
Just a thought I wonder if mobs like PIRTEK can make up a high pressure braided hose for a fraction of the price, just a thought