My 2003 SS Monte 3.8 is leaking antifreeze. I don’t se where the leak is at a quick glance.

Any suggestions?

 

check the "elbows" on the top left of engine, they are in front of altenater originally plastic and famous for hidden leak problems, yo can replace with dorman aluminum elbows. with the car hot and running you can shine light there and see small but steady drips, its kind of a pain in *** to replace but well worth doing yourself if your handy, kinda pricey at a shop

 

Thanks I’ll look at that today.

 

Easiest way to find is rent/borrow a cooling system pressure tester from a parts store and pressurize the system and look for the leak. A flashlight and a small inspection mirror will help you locate the problem . Good luck .

 

I rented a pressure testing tool. The problem was the coolant elbow, one was leaking I replaced both with new metal elbows.

I didn’t put any sealer on the ends, is this correct? The original ones didn’t have any sealant on them.

Thanks everyone.

 

I clean everything as good as possible with wire brushes and do put silicone on the also. If things are corroded it certainly doesn't hurt. Good luck.

 

I put it back together with out any sealant. I did use the metal replacement elbows. I’m going to run straight water this week for a test and will drain and next weekend after I’m sure there’s no leaks. We’re not going to be near a freeze here so no loss either way.

 

I replaced the elbows with a set of metal elbows that I bought at the local O’Reilly’s part store. I installed the new elbows without any sealant, just cleaned and put back together without sealant.

I drove the car for 102 miles a day, back and forth to work with water for one week with out any leakage. I drained the water and put antifreeze in and I have drove since without any leakage.

Thanks for everyone’s input and help.

Mike

 

Thanks for the update. It is good to know what fixed the issue. Many time people post issue on sites like this, requesting suggestions, but never come back and post what finally resolved the issue.


Thanks again for taking to time to post the fix.

 

You’re welcome