LubeITMan
Active member
So yesterday I got the dash warning to check coolant levels. Sure enough the pressurized "death star" tank was empty. I filled it up to the line with coolant and had somewhere to drive...25 minutes later it was all gone again. So I started digging in.
I put the car up on some ramps and crawled underneath, pulled the plastic guard off the bottom of the engine, and there was coolant dripping from every bolt head down there all the way back to the rear tire on the frame rail on the passenger side.
The engine looked dry all over but obviously there's a leak somewhere. After a few hours of discovery, I THINK I have found the culprit...although I don't know for sure what it is, what it does, and how to get to it. There is a black tube behind the oil filter that sits between the filter housing and the block. The tube is metal and runs horizontal and parallel to the engine. From what I can see (which isn't much) the left side (passenger side) of that tube goes into a fitting and it appears loose. The water seems to be dripping from that area although I cannot see for sure where the water is originating. It may be on the bottom but at any rate it is in such a hard area to see that visibility is too limited.
I think my next steps are to pull the intercooler off and see if that opens things up a bit so I can get in there to that area. The problem with that is that I will have to break the coolant system which will take away my ability to test or locate the leak because I won't be able to pressurize the coolant system.
Has anyone ever fought this battle? Looking for some advice here.
I put the car up on some ramps and crawled underneath, pulled the plastic guard off the bottom of the engine, and there was coolant dripping from every bolt head down there all the way back to the rear tire on the frame rail on the passenger side.
The engine looked dry all over but obviously there's a leak somewhere. After a few hours of discovery, I THINK I have found the culprit...although I don't know for sure what it is, what it does, and how to get to it. There is a black tube behind the oil filter that sits between the filter housing and the block. The tube is metal and runs horizontal and parallel to the engine. From what I can see (which isn't much) the left side (passenger side) of that tube goes into a fitting and it appears loose. The water seems to be dripping from that area although I cannot see for sure where the water is originating. It may be on the bottom but at any rate it is in such a hard area to see that visibility is too limited.
I think my next steps are to pull the intercooler off and see if that opens things up a bit so I can get in there to that area. The problem with that is that I will have to break the coolant system which will take away my ability to test or locate the leak because I won't be able to pressurize the coolant system.
Has anyone ever fought this battle? Looking for some advice here.