J Fresh
Proven Member
- 47
- 10
- Feb 23, 2017
-
Vista,
California
Hey DSM Fam, thanks for any and all insight to helping me fix my anti-freeze leak!
Vehicle history: 1997 Spyder GS-T, bought with 46k miles in 2014, now has 104k miles, basically OE except for CAI and CBE.... Did the timing belt myself 3 years ago around 67k miles just cause original belt was 16 years old . Ive had 0 issues for 7 years of ownership until last month....
What happened: I was driving to work normally when I noticed my temp gauge was maxed out but there was no CEL or anything funny about the engine as it was running normally. I drove cautiously about 10 more miles with the heat on high and parked at work closely listening for any funny sounds or weird engine responses but all seemed fine except my temp gauge was maxed out on "H". When I got out, I noticed that anti-freeze was leaking from the timing belt area, quite quickly. I had the car towed to my house where upon further inspection, anti-freeze appears to be leaking from one tiny area, 2 very small (1/8" or so) circular holes (see photos), that's located behind/under the P/S pump and one of the serpentine belt pulleys...
What I did:
Changed the oil and checked to see if it was discolored or weird in anyway and it did NOT appear to have anti-freeze mixed in.
I figured my thermostat may have gone bad since Ive never had any cooling issues. I swapped it out and ran water through the system to see if I could locate the leak. When i put bottled water in the system, it would immediately leak with the engine off.
I added an assortment of BAR's Radiator & Head Gasket Stop Leak products to the cooling system and heat cycled it a few times now. The car does NOT leak at idle (or when its turn off) anymore however I have not driven it yet. Sometimes when I hold the throttle to mid RPM's, after a minute or 2, anti-freeze will start to leak from this one area still (see photos)... I cleaned up the 2 small holes in the photos for clarity but this IS where the leak is coming from. When it leaks, it oozes out from one or both of the tiny holes like a slow dripping water faucet, down the timing belt cover, on the oil pump and all that jazz
The top 3 photos are of the tiny hole looking into the engine bay and the bottom 2 photos are of the 2nd tiny hole from the drivers side, just above the timing belt cover that cannot be seen from looking down into the engine bay
The Engine itself starts, idles, revs and runs fine, its just the coolant leak that's obviously preventing me from driving it
Thank all of you for any help you can provide in getting my 97' GS-T back on the road!
Vehicle history: 1997 Spyder GS-T, bought with 46k miles in 2014, now has 104k miles, basically OE except for CAI and CBE.... Did the timing belt myself 3 years ago around 67k miles just cause original belt was 16 years old . Ive had 0 issues for 7 years of ownership until last month....
What happened: I was driving to work normally when I noticed my temp gauge was maxed out but there was no CEL or anything funny about the engine as it was running normally. I drove cautiously about 10 more miles with the heat on high and parked at work closely listening for any funny sounds or weird engine responses but all seemed fine except my temp gauge was maxed out on "H". When I got out, I noticed that anti-freeze was leaking from the timing belt area, quite quickly. I had the car towed to my house where upon further inspection, anti-freeze appears to be leaking from one tiny area, 2 very small (1/8" or so) circular holes (see photos), that's located behind/under the P/S pump and one of the serpentine belt pulleys...
What I did:
Changed the oil and checked to see if it was discolored or weird in anyway and it did NOT appear to have anti-freeze mixed in.
I figured my thermostat may have gone bad since Ive never had any cooling issues. I swapped it out and ran water through the system to see if I could locate the leak. When i put bottled water in the system, it would immediately leak with the engine off.
I added an assortment of BAR's Radiator & Head Gasket Stop Leak products to the cooling system and heat cycled it a few times now. The car does NOT leak at idle (or when its turn off) anymore however I have not driven it yet. Sometimes when I hold the throttle to mid RPM's, after a minute or 2, anti-freeze will start to leak from this one area still (see photos)... I cleaned up the 2 small holes in the photos for clarity but this IS where the leak is coming from. When it leaks, it oozes out from one or both of the tiny holes like a slow dripping water faucet, down the timing belt cover, on the oil pump and all that jazz
The top 3 photos are of the tiny hole looking into the engine bay and the bottom 2 photos are of the 2nd tiny hole from the drivers side, just above the timing belt cover that cannot be seen from looking down into the engine bay
The Engine itself starts, idles, revs and runs fine, its just the coolant leak that's obviously preventing me from driving it
Thank all of you for any help you can provide in getting my 97' GS-T back on the road!
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
Last edited: