Last night my enginge started smoking while I was sitting in a parking lot. There was a pool of antifreeze and I couldnt find the source of the leak. Other than a rad problem (its not) I cant really think of the problem. Any thoughts
thanks
Luke
A couple things to check:
- heater hoses up by the firewall
- heater hardline "rail" that runs along intake ... tends to corrode at the fittings and leak
- water pump bypass hose (little "S" shaped hose at the front of the motor on top of the water pump)
- water pump ... look for the "weep hole" ... when bearing goes bad, usually pours out the hole
- Lower radiator hose
A couple of other things to look at. Frost(freeze or expansion) plugs, there are two on each side of the block and four on the back side(flywheel side).Also one on each end of cylinder head. Also check the condition of your front engine cover. And check the four corners of your intake manifold, you know were the water crossover passages are at. I just got done tearing apart a junkyard motor and found that the dielectric process had corrided these components enough to cause almost undetectable leaks, both internal and external.
Just a point to share with the list readers and Eric; The plugs you are refering to as freeze plugs are actually called core hole cup plugs. The sand cores that make the coolant jacket cavities in the block are supported in the mold, and rear end core, at these points. when the casting cools and the sand is removed, the holes are closed by installing a steel or brass cup plug in them. On some racing engines like the Ford, Boss 302, the plugs were screwed in to assure a no-fail mode.
The name "freeze plug," a misnomer, came about because they happened to pop loose when someone's coolant froze and they, in effect, saved the block. Therefore, they thought that was the purpose for which they were installed. The name stuck!
Wow. Someone used the word misnomer. lol.
Kind of like; it was a "misnomer" when the clock struck 12 in Marlowe's "Faust". The "misnomer" was, they did not have clocks back then...
But seriously, I did not know why they are called "freeze plugs". Neat.