I have a 2002 Cavalier. External coolant leak. No coolant in oil, no white smoke from exhaust. While the car runs it drips from a couple locations unknown for a couple minutes then stops for a short and then starts again. When I shut off the engine I have a pencil lead size constant stream of coolant leaking for about 5 minutes. I ran the engine for almost an hour at idle with the temp remaining at 195 consistently with the heater off. There is no more leak while the engine is off after the 5 minutes unless I open the surge tank cap then it leaks for another 3 minutes or so Photos to show leaking areas. Hope it helps
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I had a similar problem with losing coolant before in my 91'. Ended up draining from the overflow under the reservoir. Not sure what causes this but I'd guess prob had some junk in the line, built pressure and blew it out. Whatever u do, not not use bar's leak to fix a hole in ur rad.
ReD RaiN
@TIM8IT Not sure if you seen the photos I added, however I doubt the rad would leak that far back of the engine, would it?
Sry i dont have my 99 cav here for reference right now but the leak looks to be around the area of the overflow reservoir tank, not the rad.. Could possibly be a head leak but my guess is as mentioned
ReD RaiN
I would pressure wash the engine and use some foamy engine cleaner and take the wheel off on the side where you can get that area really clean.A cleaner engine bay might help isolate the origine of the leak source.I realize you might have already cleaned it but,with all that coolant going everywhere a cleaner slate might just find your problem.Clean then recheck after it has dried.
From the location it looks like it the water pumps weep hole my 99 had similar problem and replaced water pump to fix.
Robert Reynolds wrote:From the location it looks like it the water pumps weep hole my 99 had similar problem and replaced water pump to fix.
Robert, I have taken it to 3 mechanics and they said it is not the pump or hoses. They can not find where it is coming from, however, I have someone coming over tonight hopefully to look at the car.
My 2001 2.4 had a leak from the heater hose quick disconnect fitting.
It got replaced with a double hose barb and a couple bits of heater hose and ss clamps.
I'm guessing it's blowing it out the overflow tube which is right in that location. I'd try a new cap on the coolant reservoir and see what happens. Also know that my 2.2 ohv motor never liked to keep coolant at the full line, it was always a little lower than that. If I tried to fill it to where the manufacturer specified on the reservoir it would just blow it out the overflow until it was happy.
"In Oldskool we trust"
Not to scare you, but these motors are known to crack heads and blow gaskets at the corners too. Maybe take a hard look at both corners on that side of the motor after a good cleaning like Ron suggested.
"In Oldskool we trust"
After fixing my 2.4 L quick disconnect fitting, I now have another leak.
It turned out to be the fault of some turd mechanic in the distant past.
The engine outlet fitting on the left side of the engine has an o ring on it which was not correctly installed.
It had a big flat spot on it, and the fitting had obviously been replaced because there was a piece of an old broken fitting still sitting inside the engine !
The O ring seems to be 2.5 mm wall thickness by 45 mm diameter, or 3/32" x 1 3/4" diameter.
I'm going to pick up one tomorrow.
There is also an O ring on the overflow tank metal pipe which goes into that fitting.
It's also in nasty shape.
9 mm x 3 mm or 3/8" x 3/32"
BTW, it was a bitch to get that fitting out. The engine was built in layers, not designed to be easy to service.
I had to take off the exhaust manifold shield to get the metal pipe off, so I could get the engine water exit fitting off, which also has a heater hose and engine temp sensor.
No room to move, of course, and the geniuses who designed the power steering mount made bolts nearly inaccessable. GRRRR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After all the stuff I've had to replace to make it work correctly, I still love my car though. Guess I'm just a glutton for punishment?
Forget the sizes I listed in the previous post. Get the original GM parts as the sizes are smaller than I had estimated would work.
They are not expensive, 2 or 3 bucks each.
Expensive relative to a hardware store, but they are the RIGHT SIZE which I couldn't find at any auto parts store.
Overflow tank O ring seal on metal pipe which plugs into the engine outlet adapter Part Number 24572538
Housing adapter O ring seal where it connects to the engine Part Number 24572538
I am happy to announce, the car is back together and NO LEAKS !!!!
