Been reading a lot about this on the forum. I have a coolant leak and am getting a pressure tester tomorrow. Is it okay to take off the UIM before hooking up the pressure tester so I can see some of the possible leaky hoses? Or, will I be able to figure out the basic area of the leak without taking anything off?

 

In stock form there are coolant hoses running to the throttle body and under the uim. Where are you seeing coolant?

 

I do have a stock twin-turbo FD. This started last week. No coolant transfer between overflow and radiator. Car starts fine with no white smoke. No overheating...of course, I'm just letting it idle in the carport. Low coolant light has come on. I shut car off immediately when it does. After engine cools, I add water/coolant directly to filler neck. It'll run without leaking till it warms up and then starts dripping directly under the center of the car around the UIM/firewall area. I looked today and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. From what I could see, didn't see any leaking from the radiator hoses -or- under the water pump.

 

The throttle body coolant hoses run back there.

 

Another thing to check in that area is the heater hose that runs from the block to the firewall.
The connection on the block is pretty hard to see in a stock car and is a bit of a pain to work on because it’s underneath other things.

I had a hellish experience with that recently. There is a plastic nipple that clips onto a metal nipple on the engine block..and then the hose goes over that.

My plastic nipple had cracked and degraded until it started to leak. I originally thought it was the hose that was leaking but when i pulled the hose off to swap it, the nipple disintegrated and the hose was fine..

It was a real pain trying to get the other half of the broken plastic nipple off the engine block on a stock car!

 

Ran a pressure test. Pulled off the UIM. I thought for sure the leak would be under the throttle body somewhere...it wasn't. I checked the turbo side and everything looked dry from the top side of the car. Coolant pours out from underneath the center of the car just back of the oil drain plug. Not today, but the last few times I've started the car it didn't leak on startup only after the engine warms. Is this starting to sound like a failing water pump ?

 

Freeze plugs on the rear iron. Remove the clutch inspection plate and look for evidence of coolant running down the back of the motor.

thewird

 

Are you talking about one of the inspection plate covers on the bell housing?

 

Yes, the bottom one.

thewird