You might just need to tighten your hose clamp.

 

Well no real updates. Been driving my truck for longer trips lately since I don't really have the time at the moment to look at it. I did notice the steam seems to be coming from somewhere behind the engine, and some almost looked to be coming from under the intake on the firewall side...SO Im assuming my intake gaskets finally let go even to my oil still seems to be ok?

Sometime here soon I will take it to a shop and have them at least diagnose whats going on and have them pressure test the system. I just dont have time to dick with it and dont have a decent garage anymore to do anything with.

 

I have noticed I am having this problem with my 98 MC as well. I have the 3.1L engine in mine too. This topic has lots of great info and I have plenty to look into once the rain stops in a few days. Thanks everyone!

 

Well think something finally gave today when I got into work. I didnt notice until I got out tonight walking to the car I saw a fluid track where I backed into my stall. Then noticed quite a puddle under the car, enough to run down the parking lot a bit past the passenger tire. After looking around(I work night shift so was kinda hard to see) but it looks like it came from the center and front of the engine. I limped it home and had no heat. Popped the hood again to try and get a better look and looks like the snout of my starter is pretty soaked, and there is evidence of fresh coolant below the starter on the frame. Im at a loss. I havent had a chance to pressure check this thing yet but im getting to the point of parting with it. Ive had nothing but coolant trouble with this thing ever since Ive had it. Cut my losses and get out.

 

Well finally pressure tested the system and sure enough it starting pissing out on the floor...in the exact same spot it started when I first brought the car home from the dealer. Timing cover gasket took a ****. Pulled everything apart and changed it out...all was good so I thought. Been driving it all week and now on the way home had no heat again. Shut the engine down and can hear coolant bubbling into the overflow tank. Im about ready to cut my losses and sell this P.O.S. Bubbling in the overflow sounds a lot like a head gasket. If thats the case Im out. Time to move on.

 

Sorry about your troubles.

As I understand, the time cover gasket has nothing to do with coolant flow or coolant loss. If you can see where coolant is coming from and post a pic (with an arrow if possible) to where you are seeing coolant, I may be able to give some more insight. It could be something super easy.

 

I think I had more than one problem. I pressurized the system and found where my external leak came from. When I first bought the car about a week later it developed this leak in this same spot. I bars leaked it and it fixed it for about 50k miles then started leaking a very small amount every so often. Then all of a sudden I noticed it was taking coolant and the temp guage would fluctuate and would have no heat for a bit. Weeks later is when I noticed the big puddle under the car that night at work.

The gasket was definately bad, and it was pissing from there when I pressurized the system. But now with that fixed I thought all was good. Driving home from work last time my temp guage spiked and my heat dropped off so I am making air in the system somehow...no external leaks. And when shutting the engine down you can hear and see bubbles coming into the overflow tank.

Oil is clean, with brown sludge under that oil fill cap but my drive is less than 10 mins and the thermostat JUST opens as I turn down my street. I hate short jaunts like that but I have no choice.

 

For future reference, never ever use Bars Leak (or products like it). That crap may solve your current leak, but has a habit of clogging the cooling system and creating other headaches.

No sign of coolant in the oil is a huge plus. When you say the temp gauge spikes on your ride home, I assume you mean going into the red zone? If so, this is NOT normal, even for a short jaunt. It's usually a sign of an air bubble in the system. One way to get the bubble out is when the temp gauge spikes, pull over and open a bleeder (you should get some air followed by a steady stream of coolant).

Until you have your leak solved this may be done multiple times. Have you had a chance to pressurize the system regarding your current coolant leak? If so, where does it appear to be coming out from?

 

From what I can tell there are no longer any external leaks. I installed a new timing cover gasket which is where my leak was. But I'm am still loosing coolant. I guess I didn't mean spike as in it went into the red but rather during normal warm up the gauge was slowly moving up to temp and then it moved rather quickly to about 3/4 of the gauge then fell back down. Also had no heat. I could hear and see bubbles forming in my overflow.

I think I may just take it to a shop and have them do a compression check to put my mind at ease. If that checks out ok it almost has to be my LIM gaskets...even tho my oil seems to be ok. I'm not 100% sure it is my head gasket since the car runs fine but not sure what else it can be.

 

Ok...went out again today and did some more messing around and Triple checked my oil and from what i can see there is NO sign of coolant in the oil. Still looks amber since changed about 100 miles ago when I put the timing cover gasket on.

I re-bled the system to try and get the air out. idled it for about 10 mins and temp guage stayed steady.

Another thing I got to thinking about is what would the symptoms be of a bad radiator cap? Would a bad cap allow coolant to pass through when the system gets to operating temp but wont suck it back in when the engine cools? This too would cause air(vacuum) in the system correct?

I am going to try and get my car into a shop for a compression check next week but other than that I am running out of options. I do seem to have quite a bit of moisture spitting out of my tail pipe but the weather here has been up and down and im sure has been causing condensation. Along with my short drives to work there has to be tons of condensation in the exhaust/muffler.

If my LIM gaskets were going wouldnt I have coolant in the oil? Im really scratching my head on this one. Part of me wants to sell it to get out from under it. But the other part of me wants to fix this and see how long it lasts. The transmission shifts perfectly, and the car is paid for so why not see how far this will go.

IDK...FML