I have a coolant leak in a L shaped pipe underneath the blower. Here is a crappy picture of it. This is right under the drive portion of the blower. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...a&id=621688836 I am thinking this is the heater control valve? All the repair manuals I could find only had the 3800V6 with no blower so I am unsure of the part. I will try to get clearer pics tomorrow, but any help is appreciated.

 

Is it leaking from that tube?

 

Yes it is leaking from that tube engine coolant.

 

Have you checked your coolant elbows, the upper one is directly under the blower snout. I replaced these on my 04 recently. The OEM ones are horrible. Here is what they look like, Coolant elbows

If its these i got a set from advanced auto parts for like $3.50, for both upper and lower.

 

Those look like it just the one under the blower is leaking right now. Where is the other one located? I take it you just pull out the old one push the new one in?

 

The other one is connected to the lower part of what is essentially the alternator bracket, it is the same part that the upper one is connected to. Its hard to see the lower one as it is directly under the alternator. To replace them, you take both drive belts off the engine, pull your coolant recovery bottle out of the way. The the next step is to remove the alt, its 2 screws on the top and one on the front if your looking from the passenger side toward the driver side. Once the alt is off you have a clear view of the 2 connections. There are another 3 bolts, two you can see and a third on the back under the heater core lines. You can feel it pretty easily. Once the bolts are out you can pull the whole piece of metal off and the coolant elbows will come with it, make sure if they are broken to get all the parts out of the holes. Then simply pull the old ones and stick the new ones in, and bolt everything back up. You are going to have to bleed the coolant after your done. Alot of air generally gets in the system when you do these.

 

I guess these elbows are common to my 02 3.8L? I noticed some coolant below the h20 pump and figured the pumps seal was going bad. I only remember seeing one drive belt I'm guessing your second one is for the supercharger.

 

Yes, L67's have two belts. The coolant elbows and water pumps are both things that commonly go out on 3800's. You will need to do a pressure test on the coolant system to know where the leak is coming from for sure.

 

yeah its the coolent elbows, get both elbows when you buy your parts as they will fall apart when you remove the alternator bracket. some of the plastic will get stuck in the lim (the elbow in the pic) and the rear head (the elbow you cant see) so have a 90 degree pick and or a small pick handy to dig it out. the dealer price is about the same. also while you have the bracket off take the time to check you power steering fluid, it'll never be that easy again.

 

Just bumping this very useful/informative thread, because I have this very exact leak today! Will have this taken care of tomorrow.