TMarsland

As much as I hate to say this, I bought my FD 2 days ago, and it's not drivable now.
I drove it pretty easy to walmart yesterday to get xmas decorations, and I kept noticing a burning rubber smell every time i took off. My tires don't have much tread left, so I thought that might be the problem.
Well, when I left walmart, there was a small puddle of coolant on the ground, right under the center of the engine. Seeing as how I only had 3 miles to go to get home, I figured I'd get it home, put it up on jacks and find the leak.
Well, about halfway there it started steaming really bad from under the engine, and while I was driving I saw the temperature gauge rise just a little. Knowing how inaccurate those things are, and fearing for my engine, I immediately put it in neutral, shut off the engine, and coasted into a parking lot.
When I lifted the hood, steam billowed out like crazy and I could hear this evil hissing/boiling sound like the coolant had spilled all over the hot engine and was boiling away. I let the engine cool off, and got it towed to my house, where it sits right now. While it was cooling off, the low coolant level warning light came on also.
The interesting thing is that the coolant reservoir is still 1/2 full.
So, here's my dilemma. I am about to put it up on jack stands, and pour water through it and see if i can find the leak. Is this the right way to go about doing this? Are there any hoses in particular I should check?
Thanks

skunks

the first day you got your fd, you should have gotten a boost gauge and water temp gauge and installed them. in ancyase, idk if you can just pour water in to the car and check for leaks that way, you might need to start your car to let a bit of pressure build up in the cooling system if its a small leak (sounds like a huge leak though)

good luck

TMarsland

Okay, I filled the radiator again, and there was no leaks. I then started the engine, and it ran great until it warmed up, then the damn thing started leaking like crazy, somewhere back of the radiator, first towards the driver's side near the firewall, then on the passenger side in the same spot, back near the firewall. Can anyone tell me what's back there? I am going to get ramps and put the car up and do this again to see if i can get a better view of where the leaking is from.
Thanks

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Check the coolant lines running into the throttle body.

David Beale

Also the turbo coolant lines (one under the air pump). They usually go first anyway, due to the radiative heating they get. Also, when they go it really steams, as the coolant goes all over the hot turbo housings (and can cause a fire as glycol is flamable).

TMarsland

Will do as soon as I get some sturdy ramps to get the car up on. Don't suppose anyone lives near Charleston that would be willing to help me out?
Also, does anyone have the page # of the factory service manual I should look at to see exactly where these lines are?
Thanks!

TMarsland

Also, would either of these hoses cracking under heat cause me to lose my radiator coolant without the reservoir draining to help it?
Thanks

Larz

Get a Fluidyne radiator. I think some of the hoses may have cracks, also.

TMarsland

Found puddle of coolant near oil filter, just below the filter. What's over there to check?

ablabb

Try and post in the South East forum as well and see if someone local can give you a hand. At least for me, everything is easier when you are not working in it alone.

clayne

TM,

As Mahjik pointed out, it's most likely the throttle body coolant lines. There are two lines - one on the top of the TB towards the FW, and the other by the dipstick. Take off the plastic air pipe connecting to the throttle body first.

In addition the overflow tank works on an excess pressure/vaccuum mechanism. If you have a significant leak it will not have proper vaccuum to pull the coolant out of the overflow reservoir when the car is cooling down.

Fatman0203

Throttle Body Coolant Lines is very possible. Mine has the exact same problem 5 days after I bought it. Sounds like it. Try to get someone to help you they start car and you look for leak.

TMarsland

I'm guessing that TB stands for throttle body, what does FW stand for? Front wheel is my guess, but it's too dark outside to go tinker, so it'll have to wait till tomorrow. How big are the hoses I should be looking for? Anyways guys, thanks for all your help, all I know is this last time I found a small puddle of coolant right under the oil filter.

Also, any specualtions on whether or not I let the car overheat too much and killed the engine?
Thanks!

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

FW is for "Fire Wall".

So, as clayne said: "on the top of the TB towards the FW"

Which also means "on the top of the throttle body towards the cockpit".

TMarsland

Okay, is there any good way to see those hoses without removing stuff? It was getting dark out when I found the puddle but I couldn't really see too well down in there. Any suggestions?

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

You may as well wait until you have some light. It's not going to do any good looking in a dark engine bay. Honestly, you are going to have to remove stuff on your car sometime if you plan to fix anything on your own.

The upper hose is in plain site on the TB. The lower hose is very short but not very visible without removing the TB. Either way, you are going to need to inspect the hoses and you won't really be able to do that with them attached to the TB.

Wait until light, and then get your hands dirty.

TMarsland

bump

Zoomspeed

leave the car off, fill it up with water. Then, goto to autozone and rent the cooling system tester. Its a hand pump that u hook up to your radiator. Pump itup to pressurize the system and see where it leaks. This should give you way to check for leaks w/o having to start up the engine.

bswaybar

I attached a picture of the engine. The red circles are the nuts etc to remove to get a view of the throttle body hoses. They are around the size of your ring finger. I too would use a cooling system pressure tester. This will pressurize the system without getting it hot. Put some water in the system to give it some volume. Just remember the water/coolant will flow/drop toward the ground and stay cool and take some time to get a good view of things. Use a flash light and eyeball things carefully. Tb is throttle body and thats the area with the three red circles. John

Fatman0203

Left Side of Firewall



Right Side of Firewall



GUESSE WHATS MISSING?!

TMarsland

so , to do this right, I need to take off the whole intake extension manifold, huh?

Fatman0203

No, thats just cause im doing other work. Mine exploded and I was able to replace them without taking much off.

TMarsland

okay, well, just for the hell of it i figured i would be able to see easier if i took it off. With it off is there any way to pressurize the system to check for leaks or not?

TMarsland

Okay, there obviously isn't. But the autozone tester won't hook up to my filler cap anyways. Oh well. Does anyone have a good picture of where all the vacuum hoses under the rat's nest go?

Thanks

93BlackFD

it's your water pump, it will weap when the bearing seals are shot, it will get onto your belts and cause them to slip

just change out your water pump ;-) i bet ya $20 that's where the problem is