1988 Turbo II. Okay, so I've had this problem for as long as I've owned the car, about a year. Basically I have this external coolant leak coming from somewhere on the passenger side of the engine that's pooling up and dripping off. It isn't leaking a whole lot every night, but enough for me to have to top it off every week or so. It's a very fresh rebuild, less than 8k on it, car runs great. I used to think it's the coolant seals but someone told me if it's external it can't be. Either way, I did all the tests. Cranked it, checked for wet plugs; nothing. Overflow stays at the same level. No bubbles in the filler. No sweet smell from the exhaust or smoke, except when it's cold. But no smell at all. Pressure tested. Even had a Hydrocarbon test done. So I'm all out of ideas now. Any ideas on how to fix this would be much appreciated!

 

The lower intake manifold has two O-Rings that are placed between the manifold and the housings.
One may be "off a bit" or just plain let go is my guess.
Sometimes it will show as coolant on top of the engine between the housings and manifold..sort of where the Primary injectors would sit.
Another thing I see is that you have a block off plate on the external part of the Coolant passage to the old turbo.
Check that for leakage too.


***by the way DO NOT DEPEND on your Overflow as a way to Check the Coolant.
Check the coolant Cold with the Cap off when COLD,to see if the level has changed.
If the overflow system even has a slight bit of deterioration and can't suck back the coolant,say due to a cracked hose or a hose off inside the plastic jug,the coolant will stay there..and since your Cooling system would be so LOW(due to a leak) that it would not expel any coolant it would be TOO LATE to know if the engine needed coolant..Say BYE to your engine.

 

Thanks so much for the response! So it can be fixed... That's a relief. I'll definitely be checking that! & yeah, I've never gone off of what's in the overflow, I check all the caps every time I drive and also have a temperature gauge set up. It's never been close to overheating and it never loses much coolant from the caps so that's why it was so puzzling...

 

I'm just leading you to the places that are known to leak.I am not 100% positive so go into it with a grain of salt.
It's hard to diagnose stuff when you can't actually see it,so I'll leave it up to you as to what you want to do and what you ultimately find.