Coolant Leak: Could use some help.

[alansupra94]

Well after driving my car to work, I noticed steam coming out of my hood. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/uhh.gif I had noticed that my overflow has been slowly loosing coolant but I attributed it to the fact it was my first 100 miles and still drinking coolant.

I thought sh*t it might be my HG but when I checked, the temperature was smack in the middle. I popped open the hood and noticed that it isn't steaming from the engine but rather on the left hand side near the transmission. I checked the overflow and its almost dry.

My question is what could it possibly be? What is in that "area" and what a good way to find it? Since I am at work, I plan on just filling it with some DI water and getting it home. However its raining today so I might have to do it Saturday /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif I only drive the car to work possibly once a week anyway due to carpool.

Any ideas would be helpful.

 

[dmj]

Pressure test the cooling system ,you can buy a cheap radiator/ coolant pressure testing kit from Harbor Freight, screw the cap to the radiator, pump it up and you should easily find your leak.. I suggest replacing all your coolant hoses they are less than $100.00 from your friendly Mitsu dealer.

 

[alansupra94]

Harbor Freight you say? I checked online and can't find anything. I just found a leak tester.

I mean from what I can remember, its was to the extreme left and I can only think of either the radiator or the actual radiator hose bring the problem.

 

[turbowop]

Heater core hoses and the coolant hoses that run to the throttle body are right there. Sounds like it'd be a good time to replace all ten factory coolant hoses.

 

I've been dealing with coolant issue the past few weeks as well.

You can rent a cooling system pressure tester from Autozone. You also need to rent the adpater for import cars along with it. When I pressurized my system to 16 psi I easily found a couple small leaks.

 

[KiNgMaRtY]

Check your radiator cap. They do go bad after time. Start with the easiest and cheapest

 

[Adorsey]

Quoting turbowop:
Heater core hoses and the coolant hoses that run to the throttle body are right there. Sounds like it'd be a good time to replace all ten factory coolant hoses.





+1 Heater core hoses.

 

There are several heater hoses that run along the top of the transmission and back to the fire wall. They get soft over time and will string a leak. This is most likely the issue but as the guys have suggested, pressure test the system and this will help you pin point the issue. If one hose is bad the others may not be far behind. Good luck and let us know what you find.
-Kevin

 

[alansupra94]

From a quick look today (couldn't do much because it was seriously raining hard as hell), it doesn't look like its coming from the heater houses and there doesn't seem to be any kind of accumulation on top of the transmission. I think it might be my lower radiator hose or my actual radiator leaking. I will let you guys know what happened.

 

[alansupra94]

Well, it looks like its definitely the lower radiator hose. I am going to replace them with stainless steel ones for now. I have a two pass C&R radiator coming and will weld -16an fittings. I am going to make this Galant straight baller status.

 

[turbowop]

That's some pretty crazy upgradezzz to repair a leak that could be fixed with a $10 factory hose. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

 

[alansupra94]

Its not that. I have been planning to do this for some time and figured why not now. I just need to find all those A/C components and slap them back in as well.

I probably will go to vatozone tomorrow and get a replacement hose for now.

 

Rent the pressure tester while you're at Autozone and confirm that source of any leaks before throwing money at it.