So I've searched and cannot figure this out. I noticed a small squeak from under the hood a few days back and this is what I found. I'm guessing it's from the top of the engine somewhere but I cannot find where it's coming from. It's on the hood and you can also see it splattered under the on the alternator and strut bar... it's not anything oily or gooey. It's completely dry everytime I check it, kinda like some kind of epoxy or glue or something. The pictures show a pretty accurate color of what it actually looks like. Any ideas or has anyone ran into this problem before?

 

looks like coolant. I'd run the car, get it up to temps while its hot and start listening/looking around the pressure cap areas...or get a pressure tester

 

That coupling on Pic#4 is split and is about to let go.

 

You think so? Wouldn't coolant stay liquidy?? this stuff is like dried on, I'll probably have to scrub it off. And why is it that color? My coolant is mostly water with a tiny bit of AF, so it's light green. I checked coolant levels too and I haven't lost any, it's topped off. I'll check my caps though. Thanks for the input.

 

Yeah, that's my intake elbow hose, need to get that replaced...

 

Taste it! You can tell if its antifreeze!

 

I remember having a coolant leak from one of the coolant hoses that went under the crossover pipe way back in the day... That seems like it'd be in about the right place for it. I'd start looking there. I'd go with TpCpLaYa's advice of checking for leaks with the car at full operating temperature, chances are you've got a pinhole leak and that won't really show up unless the coolant system is pressurized.

 

If you have access to a coolant system pressure tester, pressurize the system and you will fix the leak.

 

it gets REALLY hot under the hood and the coolant that spits out can bake/dry pretty quickly in the right spots and will dry pretty much that color. I even see a tint/hint of green in there but maybe that's just the picture.

Anyways by process of elimination alone you can pretty much deduce that it has to be coolant as there aren't any other fluids that will really dry like that in that spot.

good luck and update for the guys in the future

 

Thanks everyone, you've all convinced me it's one of the small coolant hoses. Time to start tearing the top of the engine apart and find the culprit, I'll purchase a pressure tester, it's a '94 and hoses probably have never been replaced. I just bought this a few months back. Last Seven I had was an FC.