WhiteFoxGT

You need a tester from a part store or a buddy. You take the rad cap off, pinch off the overflow hose, and pump pressure to ~16 psi...and see if it holds, and you will be able to see/hear coolant leaking. It looks like a hand pump.....

EDIT i read that wrong I thought you meant pressure test..

Compression tester is a guage that screws into your spark plug hole (one at a time) and you crank the engine over (disable fuel or spark first) and see what it tells you... All 8 cylinders should be about equal in compression and Im not positive of specs but I'd say 150-110 would be near normal

haromaster87

^^^Gotcha. Yeah I run the pressure test all the time. I'll be doin it tmrw to track the leak. Question, if it does turn out to be the lower intake mani gasket, would there have been symptoms up until it busted completely and let the coolant drain? Power loss, could that be why I saw smoke? And how hard of a job is it to replace? If I start at about 12pm tmrw, and I work continuously on it, is it possible for me to be done by 6am monday? lol Thats the first day of school and I wanna drive my car.

mjr46

your rationale is believable if his symptoms didn't exibit an external coolant leak so most likely your wrong.......the white smoke can be easily explained by the external leak getting on the exhaust and burning, so therefore buy a pressure tester and see where the leak is, could be a intake gasket at the rear = lower, or a heater core hose, freeze plug or coolant comming out the evap drain hose getting on exhaust due to faulty heater core, just some things to check

haromaster87

^^^God I love your post. lol Yeah, I would've figured it to maybe be a head gasket or something but the dripping trail I left said otherwise. Also, it dripped onto the bell housing and the back of the oil pan. So it's somethin towards the back. mjr46, besides the freeze plugs which sound hard to replace, is all the other stuff you listed possible to replace in 1 day?

mjr46

for a 1st timer everything can be done in a day but the heater core if it is a first time ....but since you say it's dripping on the bellhousing I doubt it's a heater core look at the little black vent on the firewall under heater core hoses and make sure it is dry and no coolant rolling out of it

mjr46

and to be honest it could be a head gasket external leak but most likely it's a hose so follow hoses that come out of the heater core and at the rear of the heads by the intake/lower one where the coolant ports are located at rear of heads

haromaster87

I'de be so stoked if it was a hose. lol I'm gonna work my butt off tmrw, I wanna get it fixed so I can drive my car the first day of school.

mjr46

just use a pressure tester when it's cold and gauranteed in a few minutes you'll find the leak

haromaster87

^^^Haha, I definatelly know that. Those things are the best. One thing, I don't typically like using water in the coolant system. But since I have to fill the system with liquid to do the pressure test, can I just fill it with distilled water, and then once i've found the leak just drain the water?

mjr46

^^^^you got it!!! that there my friend is the correct way to attach and repair a cooling system leak and I like that you are using distilled water!!! less chance of impurities crudding up cooling system and electolsis