Coolant leak

Anyone have an idea if where this coolant is coming from? Lim gasket and elbows have been changed to aluminum by a po. The oil is free of any coolant. The coolant is on top of the Lim. Thanks

My leak like that did not stop until I replaced the LIM and SC plenum gaskets.  I never did pinpoint the source although my wild guess is the throttle body gasket.  Coolant attacks those pretty good over time.

I guess that if you are seeing coolant pooling like that, the imperishable 3800 engine is politely asking you to refresh the top end gaskets including the LIM before it fails.  I kinda wish I'd figured that out, say, a decade ago.  It's funny - once you find out the signs this car has a way of whispering to you that it needs unusual maintenance items like that.   For instance, when the rear brake pads are getting somewhat low, the parking brake foot pedal won't spring back quite all the way.

Albertj

I think i found the answer. I also posted this on the Grand Prix facebook group. The Grand Prix s/c 3.8 is the same motor. Someone answered that the coolant is "wicking" up through the lim bolt threads. There is supposed to be permatex/ptfe used on the lim bolts to prevent the wicking. The PO that changed the LIM gasket probably didn't know that. Ill know for sure when i take out one if the LIM bolts that I can easily get to and check it for thread sealant

Cliff96 wrote:

I think i found the answer. I also posted this on the Grand Prix facebook group. The Grand Prix s/c 3.8 is the same motor. Someone answered that the coolant is "wicking" up through the lim bolt threads. There is supposed to be permatex/ptfe used on the lim bolts to prevent the wicking. The PO that changed the LIM gasket probably didn't know that. Ill know for sure when i take out one if the LIM bolts that I can easily get to and check it for thread sealant

Sounds plausible. On my LIM the sealant was likely insufficient; I slathered on PTFE paste on the install... did not give that much thought...

Cliff96 wrote:

I think i found the answer. I also posted this on the Grand Prix facebook group. The Grand Prix s/c 3.8 is the same motor. Someone answered that the coolant is "wicking" up through the lim bolt threads. There is supposed to be permatex/ptfe used on the lim bolts to prevent the wicking. The PO that changed the LIM gasket probably didn't know that. Ill know for sure when i take out one if the LIM bolts that I can easily get to and check it for thread sealant

My uncle recently noticed a coolant leak on his Riv. We'll just finish installing the brake pads plus the new wheels and tires on his Wrangler before we take a closer look at the LIM bolts and gasket.

Hope you got it fixed by now.