Bad antifreeze leak - 4th F-Body

Doms94Camaro · January 5th, 2010, 09:11 PM

I noticed a river or antifreeze running down my driveway today so i investigated and i whipped out the old Snap-On cooling system pressure tester. pumped it up and looked under the car.. antifreeze in the steady flow running from a plate under the engine looking through the tight engine bay i couldnt see much past the alternator but i did see one of the freeze plugs were drenched and the whole side of the block was drenched. I really really dont wanna have to pull the motor because i heard you have to drop the motor out from the bottom which seems like a pain in the rear. if anyone has had any similar problems or knew someone with this problem please reply to give me some help. ill have to put the car on the ramps when it gets above 20 degrees again

thanks!
Dom

RrCoX22 · January 6th, 2010, 12:25 AM

is the car running rough? coming out the head gasket? or is the source more towards the front assembly?

Doms94Camaro · January 6th, 2010, 05:06 PM

no she runs fine..i havent looked around to see where its coming from but the whole passenger side of the block is soaked. i found on another forum a guy how bought a 94 3.4 like me and had the same kind of leaking. he found out it was just a rusted out freeze plug so i hope to god its just that and not something cracked.

RrCoX22 · January 7th, 2010, 03:34 AM

freeze plug would make sense... and even more sense because of your location

Doms94Camaro · January 11th, 2010, 03:42 PM

So i look under the car and it seems to be coming from a spot on the front of the engine block in an area I can't see. The spot is just left of the water pump. is there a freeze plug there? i thought it was farther back but the antifreeze runs down to the back of the oil pan and drips onto the fuel line..following the fuel line very far back so it was deceiving me.

RrCoX22 · January 12th, 2010, 02:22 AM

have you jacked it up and looked underneath yet?

99Hugger · January 12th, 2010, 02:11 PM

Sure it's simply not the water pump leaking? Coolant leaks can be pretty deceiving. The way they seep can lead you in the wrong direction. When my pump was leaking it was seeping down to the driver side corner of the block, and dripping from there. Had me worried for a bit. Didn't notice where it was coming from until I jacked it up, lay underneath, and watched it for a few mins.

Doms94Camaro · January 12th, 2010, 05:10 PM

It's coming from a behind a big bracket on the front of the motor that has the airconditioner and alternator attached to it. i believe the leak is coming from behind there on the front of the block not the side like i had originally suspected. where are the freeze plugs on the 3.4l v6's? i wish i could have like a layout of the motor but i cant find any online or anything. i'm going to try to hold off on driving it until spring because in jersey if you start working outside you wont be able to feel your fingers in like 30 minutes.

RrCoX22 · January 12th, 2010, 06:57 PM

sounds like the waterpump or seal

Doms94Camaro · January 16th, 2010, 06:04 PM

So i took off the alternator and some of the a/c and removed the front bracket to see the source and from what i can see it looks like the gasket behind the 1-2 inch aluminum water pump spacer is what is doing it. The bolts that held it on i tightened about 1/4 or 1/2 of a turn and im wondering because they were kind of loose it gave enough space to for the antifreeze to burst through giving it a bigger hole? im probably going to get a new belt/automatic tensioner and possibly water pump while all this stuff is out. my friend who had a 3.4 firebird had the EXACT same problem and replaced just the gasket and that fixed it. anyone else have this problem?

RrCoX22 · January 16th, 2010, 09:02 PM

if it's been leaking that bad for a while I'm sure the seal is shot... your probably gonna need to replace it as tightening the pump bolts most likely won't cut it

Doms94Camaro · January 17th, 2010, 02:43 PM

so theres the water pump, water pump gasket, then aluminum spacer and then the gasket where the spacer meets the block? any idea on what that would be called?

shizzle24 · January 31st, 2010, 04:59 PM

Replace the water pump

sounds extremely similar to what mine did. You could remove the belt and hand spin the pump and see how it feels.

Doms94Camaro · February 7th, 2010, 09:12 PM

i got a haynes repair manual and the timing chain cover (which is aluminum) is leaking antifreeze and my friends who also has a 3.4 did the exact same problem he told me what to do and all that so i gotta wait for the parts to come in from AAP and ill be ready to rock and roll. Not like i could rock and roll anyways in this snow in NJ?

RrCoX22 · February 7th, 2010, 11:57 PM

good to hear... it's really hard to track down a verify a leak depending on the description. everything seemed to point towards the waterpump, and your front cover should only leak oil I believe so not quite sure on that one, but if that's the solution for the issue

shizzle24 · February 9th, 2010, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doms94Camaro

i got a haynes repair manual and the timing chain cover (which is aluminum) is leaking antifreeze and my friends who also has a 3.4 did the exact same problem he told me what to do and all that so i gotta wait for the parts to come in from AAP and ill be ready to rock and roll. Not like i could rock and roll anyways in this snow in NJ?

well if that fixes it, great. what exactly did he tell you to do?

99Hugger · February 10th, 2010, 02:16 PM

Yea, I'd think if you have coolant coming out of your timing chain cover... your problems run much deeper!

Doms94Camaro · February 14th, 2010, 12:39 PM

Well I just got the parts in from advance auto parts. I got a water pump, belt tensioner, a new belt, the gasket set, and a new thermostat, and a timing cover gasket set. once my camaro submerges from the 3 feet of snow it is encased in now then i can get to wrenchin' and tell you guys what I find!

Doms94Camaro · February 21st, 2010, 05:44 PM

alright the timing chain cover is off and im replacing the timing chain since im right there but it seems this is a routine bad gasket. So I lucked out there. The one thing im curious about...well actually two thing. number 1. I guess this is for anyone who knows 3.4's very well. I took the timing chain cover off and it exposes the lip on the front of the oil pan. it looks like alot of silicone gasket was put there to replace the gasket. I'm not sure if there is supposed to be a gasket there but im not taking the oil pan off to replace that gasket so im wondering if there's any kind of liquid gaskets you guys prefer me to use. Number 2. I am going to put up pictures of a very rusty y-piece that is right underneath the intake that i pulled out and a plastic clip around where it went in broke. Im not sure what to call this piece so i cant find any kind of replacement. if you guys can write me back it'd be a huge help. Thanks!

Dom

RrCoX22 · February 21st, 2010, 07:24 PM

an rtv silicone sealant will be fine for the oil pan/timing cover seal/gasket and far as that piece you'll need to be a little more specific... do you happen to know what it was connected to? is it cast iron/metal? if not very familar with the 3.4L so can't give a definte answer