Bad Coolant leak at Throttle Body

[ricky_rockstah]

So, I was driving my GSX pretty hard the other day and noticed that it was smoking after I parked it, and i was worried that I'd sprayed oil on everything again, but to my surprise there was a small pool of coolant.

I traced it to the throttle body and my question is, do I try and fix it, do I pypass the coolant lines? I Guess I could just unplug them and run a union, but would i have to plug the lines at the tb? Is ithe coolant line connection to the TB frail because it seems like a substantial amount of coolant leaked out.


Thanks guys!

 

[DAC96]

I'm not sure i understand... did you actually find the leak (ie. a crack in the hose) or you just know that it's coming from that general area?
-Derek

 

[femmeDSM]

No, no no...Don't bypass that. You will need to find the leak -- and yes, those hoses are somewhat fragile -- I replaced both of mine when I bought my GSX and they were pretty chewed up. Those are often overlooked when replacing coolant lines, so my guess is that they may have never been replaced (in my car, at least).

As you know, there are two of them. IIRC, the longer of the two runs on top, directly to the thermostat housing, and the bottom one is a "T" off of the larger line coming from underneath the thermostat housing. That bottom one is a bi*** to get off. Be prepared to curse at it a bit...

For replacements, I just took the old hoses to AutoZone and had them match the diameter and I haven't had any more problems. Just remember to tighten them very well -- coolant likes to find ways to leak out of those lines

 

[ricky_rockstah]

I'm not sure i understand... did you actually find the leak (ie. a crack in the hose) or you just know that it's coming from that general area?
-Derek

Sorry, it's definitely coming from the line at the throttle body, but not from a cracked hose, i *think* it's a crack in the housing that the line plugs into at the TB because the line itself looks fine.

 

[femmeDSM]

Sorry, it's definitely coming from the line at the throttle body, but not from a cracked hose, i *think* it's a crack in the housing that the line plugs into at the TB because the line itself looks fine.

That sounds unlikely at best.......Those ports that the hoses plug onto are pretty sturdy....When I pulled my hoses off at the TB, there was a ton of rust and misc. crud on the lines....pull off the hoses and have a look -- they might have been pushed down over the 'lip' of the port they plug onto....

If those metal lines are actually cracked, I'm not really sure if JB Weld would hold up.....But might be worth a try, rather than locating another TB.......

 

[ricky_rockstah]

That sounds unlikely at best.......Those ports that the hoses plug onto are pretty sturdy....When I pulled my hoses off at the TB, there was a ton of rust and misc. crud on the lines....pull off the hoses and have a look -- they might have been pushed down over the 'lip' of the port they plug onto....

If those metal lines are actually cracked, I'm not really sure if JB Weld would hold up.....But might be worth a try, rather than locating another TB.......

It's just proven difficult to spot. I just need some daylight to research it further.


I jsut can't decide if I need to repair it, or just block it at this point...

 

[femmeDSM]

It's just proven difficult to spot. I just need some daylight to research it further.


I jsut can't decide if I need to repair it, or just block it at this point...

No kidding. Mine were hard to see even in the daylight.....The damn fuel rail connector gets in the way a bit, too....I hope you have small hands They are on there pretty good, to say the least. .

 

[ricky_rockstah]

No kidding. Mine were hard to see even in the daylight.....The damn fuel rail connector gets in the way a bit, too....I hope you have small hands They are on there pretty good, to say the least. .

I wish I hads small hands. I was thinking I was gonna have to pull the battery just so I could reach back there.



If I do it'd be a good excuse for a thorough TB cleaning and a precise fix to whatever is messed up with that line.

 

[femmeDSM]

I've heard a few people say that the battery didn't get in the way -- however, I found it made things much more comfortable to remove it.

Like you said, I just took the opportunity to remove the throttle body, replace all the gaskets, and give it a good cleaning (I even polished it, ).

I tend to go a little overboard, though.......

If you are thinking of doing any work on the fuel system at the same time, I found that removing the fuel rail would have *greatly* improved visibility (and eliminated a couple of tight spaces).

Good luck