I’ve got a minor coolant leak from one of the hoses on the backside of the engine.
I haven’t been able to get a clear line of sight to see any of those hoses. I removed my intake last night to get a better view of looking down behind the engine but I still couldn’t see the leak. Took 15 minutes of letting the car idle for the hose to start leaking. Didn’t seem to make a difference if the heat was on or not so I don’t think it has anything to do with those lines. While laying under the car (with engine running) it looked like the coolant was dripping down onto the oil filter, before then dripping onto the left axle and the “2” part of my 4-2-1 exhaust header.
Seems like the only way to get direct access from above is to remove the throttle body and entire intake manifold. Or, maybe access it from driver’s side of engine bay by removing the brake reservoir and possibly alternator. Neither option is something I’m super excited about.
Anyone have past experience with these hoses and know a trick to getting this job done?
As nsxtech said it could have to do with the hardpipe on the back of the engine. There are rubber o-rings at each side as well as a couple hoses that feed the oil cooler. Here’s a pic to kinda show you what’s going on down there. Untitled by Colin, on Flickr
If it were me I’d probably try to suffer through getting coolant in my face and tackle this from below but that’s because I HATE removing intake manifolds. Once you find the source of the leak it might be more clear whether you can do this from below or the IM needs to come off.
Agreed. I had to go from underneath and did everything by feel. But I still got it done though. You may want to consider replacing all at the same time. (I said may). Good luck DAWSON!
Thanks for the advice and words of encouragement guys.
I ended up waving the white flag though, and paid my shop to do the work. He replaced everything down there on the backside (said I had multiple leaks when he applied pressure to the system). Considering that all the equipment back there (except for the thermostat) is OEM original I wasn’t too surprised. I didn’t have time to even attempt this work (and I was too intimidated to try and remove the intake manifold) so I left it to the shop.
