Coolant leak: 1998 Oldz Alero

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Hoytman

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A few days ago, after the snow had melted, my next door neighbor was asking me about her car (single mother, working part-time). To get to the point I'll fastward quite a bit.

I volunteered to put an upper radiator hose on the car for her; the hose had a pin hole in it. I did this because I told her the car needed to be started in order to keep the battery charged. I had forgotten she hadn't been driving the car because of the leak.

I went to O'Rielly Autoparts bought a good Gates hose along with 2 new clamps, and some anti-freeze. It took me longer to remove the battery and it's box than it did to put the hose on for her. Didn't have to remove the box, but it made the hose removal process much easier. Not much room in there for big hands.

I put air in all 4 tires, added the anti-freeze, and then drove the car for about a half an hour to make sure it was alright. No problems...well at least for what I was working on. Plenty of other things wrong with the car though.

After driving it I informed her that the waterpump bearings were headed south because of the noise she was making. O'Rielly's quoted $19 and change for a new pump (That blew my mind because that's cheap!). The pump is not leaking in any way, but I'm sure it's not going to last long.

I also informed her that she needed a new radiator cap, as the one that's on the car...the top seperates from the threaded portion when trying to remove it. You have to play with it just right in order to remove it in one piece.

Since there were no issues when I drove the car I told her to go ahead and drive it if she needed to. It's her back-up car and she doesn't have a lot of money for repairs.

Anyway, she needed to drive it today (it's been a week and a half since I drove it) and after her mother drove it home from work she noticed a small amount of anti-freeze leaking under the car...small amount. She contacted me and I took a look at it.

My first thought before lookiing at it was possibly the radiator cap, as I'd suggested, would certainly need replacing. I also thought maybe that the thermostat might have stuck closed briefly somehow about the same time she arrived home with it. Car has 130K+ on it and it's time to change that thermostat, imo...as well as the pump, cap and other hoses...but she can't afford it.

Upon inspection I found the reservior has an overflow tube on it that drains to the outside of the car. So, here's the question:

What do you think is causing the engine to build up pressure to leak out the overflow?

My thoughts are to start with a $7 radiator cap and go from there...thermostat, leaking intake, etc. Of course, the repairs will come at the mercy of her ability to afford parts, with labor being on the house.

I have basic skills, but I'm mostly limited by her income and my tools. I've been known to tear into real problems though, getting dirty and learning on my own. Heck...that's how I know what little I do know. I could handle an intake issue, but I don't have the proper tools either, which will limit what I can do for her.

Any helpful tips I'm sure she'll appreciate you assisting me with. I'll certainly appreciate it.
 
Could be weeping holes from water pump. It leaks as a symptom for a failing water pump. Water pumps are inexpensive, its the labor involved is usually the expensive part.

Just from my experience.

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Hoytman said:
What do you think is causing the engine to build up pressure to leak out the overflow?
Click to expand...

Pressure in the cooling system is regulated by the radiator cap. The cap allows for controlled transfer of coolant between the radiator and the overflow reservoir. If the cap is faulty (or has separated, like in this case) it can allow for excessive coolant to flow into the reservoir due to its inability to hold back the pressure. The radiator cap needs replacement regardless, and is a good place to start. It's also not a bad idea to make sure the cooling system is completely full and all the air is bled out of the cooling system from doing the original hose repair (you may have already done this though)

It's also possible to get excessive cooling system pressure from a headgasket leak, which could be a possibility if the vehicle was ran hot when low on coolant from the original leak. When headgaskets fail, they usually fail in one of two ways; coolant leaking into combustion chamber causing loss of coolant and white smoke (most common), or combustion gases leaking into cooling system causing excessive cooling system pressure.

I would start with the easy stuff, replace the cap and verify the system is full of coolant and free of air pockets. Since this issue occurred after your replacement of the upper radiator hose and hasn't been an ongoing issue, I'd say there's a good chance that will fix the issue.
 
I agree with 90sedan. Start with the easy stuff, but it could end up being the head gasket.

It's not summer, but when the head gasket leaks into the coolant passages, it can boil the coolant and you'll be able to hear the bubbling in the overflow tank when you park the car after a longish drive.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

-Helder
 
Before you get too carried away, you changed the hose and got a bunch of air in the system...did you purge it out? If you didn't it's possible a bunch of air and coolant got burped out into the overflow tank causing it to overflow a bit. Just a thought before you get too carried away with troubleshooting. As noted sometimes water pump leaks are hard to isolate...are you sure the "leak" came out of the overflow tank overflow? You said there is a hose but you didn't say the fluid was coming out there. A long time ago I invested in a cooling system pressure tester, with today's cars there are a lot less problems but that still might be worth doing, sometimes it takes a while to really find where a leak is coming from.
 
Absolutely certain that the fluid came from the over flow tank. I seen where it had rand down, and then wipe the bottom of the hose with my finger which then got wet. So the overflow is where it came from, for sure.

I had thought of the head gasket when she first called me about it leaking, but me and car repairs don't usally get along too well, so naturally I didn't want to mention it and jinx myself and her. LOL!

I didn't hear any bubbling the one time I drove the car. I didn't see any leaks at the end of that drive and I thoroughly checked.

When I fixed the hose and filled up the radiator, throught the only place possible which was the reservoir, I ran the car until the thermostat opened and it sucked down the remaining fluid. I then ran it longer until I thought all the air was out of it. Of course, that doesn't always happen right away, and it's seemingly harder to do in this car since you don't fill the radiator from the top, rather, you add the coolant to the reservior since there's not opening on the radiator.

My first hunch was the cap. I already know it's faulty anyhow. The pump isn't leaking, but I'm almost certain it is what is squealing, unless it's the a/c pump that's making the noise.

The water pump sits above the a/c pump, however, I did notice fresh metal powder, thought minimal and expected given the noise, and the filings were magnatized the a/c pulley area.

As noted earlier, this car has some other issues to say the least. I noticed the harmonic balancer pulley was rusted really bad, which could mean the car may have been flooded at one point. However, that's a side issue at the moment for this woman. There's vibrations in the front and rear too, but it's not going to get fixed by her I'm sure.

She needs to just pay the $20 for a new pump, and also go ahead and pay for a new idler as well because it'll likely go out soon as well. Might as well get those cheap items fixed the first time while the labor is free. Of course, even though I'm volunteerin the work, I'm sure she still won't spend the measly amount of money just for parts. Maybe she'll buy a cap and a waterpump, but I'm the type who likes to fix everything while I'm in there.
 
BobbyG said:
Quite possibly a head gasket......
Click to expand...

Hi Bobby,
That's what I am thinking too. I know that a bad cap can cause issues, but I don't think it's the solution in this case. Why? Since the cap seperates from itself I'd think the leak would be coming from the area of the cap, but instead it's coming from the overflow tube from the radiator/reservior fill tank...which tells me the cap is holding pressure. The key is why is the pressure there in the first place? Your answer is the likely culprit...unfortunately for her.

Of course, I hope we're both wrong. I am waiting for her to get back with me so we can discuss a plan to take action, or not.
 
Dude, its really nice your trying to help her. But since your asking for advice, here's mine: don't get involved. Now that you've touched it - you own it. Anything that goes wrong after any further repairs may be conceived as "it never did that until the neighbor touched it".

It's an old car. It could be anything or multiple things. I think money is best spent paying a shop cleaning the engine, pressurizing the system, and putting on a lift to see where the trouble is.

Take it from someone who worked as a flat mechanic for 7 years. A water pump on an old car could POSSIBLY quickly turn into a nightmare. A bolt could snap in the block where the water pump mounts, an expensive sensor could break unhooking the connector, anything can happen. Then who pays?

Just sayin'... I have the utmost caution and respect when doing any mechanical work at home. You have to be prepared for anything that can possibly go wrong. And once you start, you gotta finish. I've seen the easiest jobs go south because of some unpredictable mishap, bolt snap, etc...
 
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