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Mysterious coolant leak from the rear of the engine

Rachet

Rachet

Active Member
Messages
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Location
Camano Island, WA
Hi guys, I have been upgrading cooling and turbo systems as well as cleaning and painting in the engine compartment. I also replaced the front clip sheet metal with that of a 2000 Escalade. All cooling system hoses have been replaced and after filling the system with distilled water to flush the system there appeared a leak from somewhere on the rear of the engine. It is apparently leaking down through the weep hole of the torque converter cover? I have not had the time to investigate the source myself but am hoping one of my fellow forum members can give me some input. I suspect a freeze plug on the rear of the block? Otherwise she runs great but is still not ready for the road.
 
Anything leaking in the valley goes out a weep hole into the rear under the flywheel.
Optimizers after 06 or so got a tube jammed in there to redirect it.

Pressure test the system to make sure there is no leaks.

On the escalade front end- I like the looks of the grille- but learned the hard way. If you smack anything, the bumper kicks that big oval shape horizontal and shoves it straight through the entire cooling stack. 15 mph hit will cost thousands to repair.
I wouldn’t say undo what ya did- but take the grille off, add in some serious support bars like 2 pieces of 2” angle iron evenly spaced mounted in the vertical position. Paint them black so they aren’t noticeable then put the grille back in. I might even be tempted to cut a couple reliefs in the back side of the plastic to give it crumple zones…
 
no, there isn't any coolant that runs through the intake on these engines. there will be two metal plates bolted to the top side of the heads right behind the intake it's located in the same spot the thermostat crossover is on the front side of the engine. also take note of the thermostat crossover too anything that leaks on top of the engine drains into the valley under the intake and then flows back to the rear of the engine and out through the flywheel bellhousing area.
 
is your rig a van or truck chassis? iirc you have an old ambulance? if it's a short hood like a van chassis you'll have to pull the doghouse cover off from inside the cab to see the rear block off plates
 
Best is set up a bright light- take a bunch of pictures. Post them up here and we can scour them with ya. Outside of finding this issue- there might be something else we see that we can say take care of before it becomes a problem.

Autoparts stores often do the loaner tool program if you don’t own a leak tester.
 
dbrannon79 said:
is your rig a van or truck chassis? iirc you have an old ambulance? if it's a short hood like a van chassis you'll have to pull the doghouse cover off from inside the cab to see the rear block off plates
Click to expand...
This is a regular cab. Any ideas on how to proceed? I am thinking that I may have to drop the trans cross member and lower the rear of the trans to gain access to the block off plate?
 
The block off plates are on the top side of the engine, look right where the trans dipstick tube comes out from behind the block. find the last bolt on the intake and just behind that you should see a round plate with two ears on it with bolts holding it to the top side of the head. the other one is located right where the glow plug relay is mounted. I will dig around for a pic to post what they look like
 
dbrannon79 said:
Here is a pic of my engine I have on the stand. I circled the two block off plates There in the same location as if they were the last intake port on the heads if they makes sense

View attachment 80157
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Geez everytime I see pics of your vehicles and engines they’re covered in rust/cancer. Almost want to get you a room at the Ronald McDonald House.
 
Big T said:
Geez everytime I see pics of your vehicles and engines they’re covered in rust/cancer. Almost want to get you a room at the Ronald McDonald House.
Click to expand...
Could be worse...

Pink Power Plant.jpg

In all seriousness, I really hope Ratchet gets back to us with more info. I'm curios as to what he finds.
 
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