Was driving and the Coolant light came on, temp gauge sky rocketed. so i got out and saw coolant leaking. now i checked the 2 large coolant lines on the left and right side of the engine (can see them easily from just popping the hood). those lines were fine. There was dripping from pretty much the center of the car. are there coolant lines that run under the car or am i gonna have to take the engine apart to get to something more internal?? any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

when im tryin to find this leak can i fill-up with water, turn the car on and try and see where its leaking from or is water a bad idea?

thanks
-Ray

 

Be careful not to over heat the engine.

How much coolant do you have to replace? how often?

I had a coolant leak a few months back.
Turned out to be a bad water pump.

 

not sure how much coolant came out, this happened a few days ago and i haven't had time to look at it yet. i was gonna try and tackle it this weekend. where is the water pump located on these cars? are there any engine layout diagrams available on this site or anywhere else? i dont plan on running the car for very long. i just want to put something in there and start the car long enough to get the drip going again then turn it off.

 

The water pump s one of the pulleys on the car. If it blew, should be easy to see. But since you mentioned the "center of the car", I see two scenarios:
1. - the coolant leak is traveling along a frame rail and appears to be the center of the car.
2. - Heater core or heater hoses sprung a leak.

My Monte is staged for winter, so I don't have a way to easily to poke around... But I know on the N-body cars (like my '94 Grand Am), when the heater core blows, they designed the car AWESOME for this.... The fluid dumps out the condensation drain on the firewall (so NO coolant gets on the interior carpet, it exits the car, but gives that appearance of "a leak in the center of the car"). Perhaps the Monte is similiar.

On the N-bodies, easy way to find out, while the car is NOT running, have one person looking under the car (the car does not need to be in the air, just watch from the side or the front) and have another person pour water in the radiator. The water will run it's course and exit that drain as I mentioned. Again, I know that works on the N-Bodies.

BTW - Be careful using water as I mentioned in the cooling system during the winter. You may not want to test with water if you don't plan to refresh the Anti-Freeze immediately after.

 

Here's a how-to video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYFz-6_GJ_g

 

awesome info guys thanks. when i say "center of the car" im more referring to center width wise. but the leak is around the "center" of the firewall area. if i put water into the radiator do i even need to turn the car on to have it start leaking? or does that really depend on where its leaking...might need some sort of pressure.

 

With my experience with the N-Bodies, it just leaks without the car running (as you fill the radiator, the water runs it's course, gets in and then out). But, if you re-filled the entire system and see or here nothing, start the car, if my guess is right, won't take running the car long with a full radiator to see water leaking.

On the Grand Ams, you can get the front of the car in the air and crawl under. The condensation drain hqas a rubber 90 degree elbow to route the water/coolant down, it's found almost next to the heater hoses. But again, I am not as familiar with the W-Bodies to give proper direction to where that drain is.

Your comment of center of the width, by the firewall is really making me think heater core (but again, I am applying N-Body knowledge to a W-Body). On the N-Body, the heater core is directly infront of the center console (just take the center console out to get to the thing, MAN it's easier then many cars from what I've heard). If I'm right, I hope a heater core is as easy on the Monte!

 

thanks maniac, I will know more tomorrow when i get my hands dirty on whats goin on. hopefully it is something both easy and inexpensive!!