Coolant Leaking from Air Filter

[Wild_Dog]

Today I found a puddle of coolant under the GN. After opening the hood I could see a few drops coming from the bottom of the cone air filter. I check the hoses nearby and it appears that there are no other leaks. There is no coolant or water in the oil. My coolant level was low so I added some and drove the car to work. It's about a 20 min. drive and I kept an eye on my temp on the scanmaster, it never got above 193 degrees. Once I arrived it was leaking and continued for an hour or so then stopped. My coolant level is not really any lower so it appears the leak can't be too bad, but I don't know for sure. I took a picture to show where it's leaking from. Has anyone else had this happen before?
Thanks,
Brett

 

[Paul Lohr]

One possibility is the leak is from the radiator or upper hose and the airflow passing through the radiator is blowing the coolant on the air filter, then it drips down. A long winded guess.

Do you have a pressure tester? I like to pressurize to 15 pounds or so then look for drips. If not, you may have to bring the car up to operating temperature then start looking for the leak.

 

[turbokinetic]

Is there anything in the air intake system that has coolant in it? The throttle body, but that would have to fill the entire air pipe and intercooler before getting to the filter.

Did you take the filter off the end of the pipe, and see if there was any coolant inside the intake pipe?

I tend to agree with Paul that probably; the coolant is blowing on the filter from some other leakage source.

 

[Dave Dunbar]

How about the upper rad hose, by the alternator? That hold down can put a small hole in the hose and usually the intake is laying on it.

 

[Grumpy]

One possibility is the leak is from the radiator or upper hose and the airflow passing through the radiator is blowing the coolant on the air filter, then it drips down. A long winded guess.

well thats the only way it will get there .. Not a guess Well unless the air filter cooling lines have a pin hole in them

 

[earlbrown]

....or the throttlebody heater lines leak. fill up the intercooler, compressor housing then run down the MAF pipe


..... and the car will have to be parked on a 50* incline!


My vote is for a 26 year old radiator that pisses on the filter or a hole in the upper hose that only shows itself under pressure at speed.

 

[Wild_Dog]

I took the air filter off and the MAF sensor. I found a lot of coolant was in the air filter, but not near as much in the MAF sensor. There was hardly any in the pipe leading to the turbo. It does seem like maybe I'm getting a leak from somewhere in the radiator and it's shooting out on the air filter or at least in that direction, but I am yet to find where the leak is coming from. I'm going to see if I can get a friend to do the pressure test on the radiator tomorrow.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Phoneguy]

well thats the only way it will get there .. Not a guess Well unless the air filter cooling lines have a pin hole in them

Thats a water cooled K&N ...

Bryan

 

[earlbrown]

Just warm the car up. That'll thin out the coolant and pressurize the cooling system.

Wear safety glasses and/or a shield when messing around with a compromised cooling system though...

 

[Wild_Dog]

Thanks for the info guys. I had a guy remove the radiator and find the hole. It was spitting out just in front of the air filter. I assume when the fan was on or when I was moving it was blowing it into the air filter. After having a radiator repair shop take a look at it, they said it would be best to replace the whole radiator. The radiator was rotting away in places and had white spots at the end of each line on one side. It kind of looks like mold growing, but he said it was basically rotting away.

Obviously I'd like to keep the cost down, but is there a specific radiator one of you would recommend?

Thanks.

 

[buickGN3:16]

Buickgn.com sells a really nice aluminum radiator with hook ups for trans & oil lines for $375, plus its saves around 17 lbs on the front end weight, hard to beat that man!!

 

[charlief1]

Alradco makes a beautiful replacement that works really good at keeping the temps down, and he's a vendor on the board.

 

[Paul Lohr]

I think you'll find some are putting f-body radiators in. Run a search if that interests you. Of course you'll have to get an external oil cooler. Might be an inexpensive route.

 

[highboostgn]

I bought a F body (V8) and swapped it in. Get that and some oil hose and fittings for the oil cooler and you ll be good to go. The radiator was around 90bucks and the fittings and hoses were around 40.

 

[earlbrown]

advance auto parts has a 15% off sale going on (and a coupon for $25 off your next purchase) is you buy an F-body unit and pay for it online. ('89 camaro IROC with a tree fiddy)

You'll save enough to buy external coolers and have a lifetime warranty. I think it knocks 28#s off the front of the car too.

 

[mikes86ttop]

Buickgn.com sells a really nice aluminum radiator with hook ups for trans & oil lines for $375, plus its saves around 17 lbs on the front end weight, hard to beat that man!!

Ended up going with this one, after I bought a f-body radaitor from car quest, and told them to keep it as the plastic tanks and just cheesy overall quality was something I just didn't want to deal with, With Marks radiator just bolt in and top off fluids And you'll be instantly happy with its performance and lower price...Mike