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Help! coolant leak

bc22pt

New member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Messages
3
Location
new york
Corvette
1992 red
hi all. i hope someone can help me. i have a 92 corvette and it leaks coolant. i changed the water pump and thermostat. that seemed to stop it for a while. then just yesterday while on a day cruise it started again. i kept filling it back up with water just to make it home, after about 50 miles of driving it stopped leaking. i drove over sixty more miles without a drop of leakage. when it leaks it will drain the coolant rather quickly. i don t think it is over heating because as soon as the low coolant light comes on i filled it back up. i just don t understand it stopping. if it continued to leak it could be a bad water pump. i put a new gm pump in just two months ago. any one have any answers?
 
I would check for a leak in two places. First check the heater control valve. It's on the right side of the engine bay and controls the flow into the heater core. They go bad fairly often.

You could have a leaking heater core as well but I'm sure you would have noticed a wet passenger side floor mat.

The other thing is to get a cooling system pressure tester and pump the system up to the correct operating pressure. If you have a leak anyplace in the system you'll know it real fast.

Richard Newton

101 Projects for Your Corvette 1984-1996

Ultimate Garage Handbook
 
'Leaking' coolant

The white coolant reservoir should supply coolant to the pressure tank (black) upon cooling. The pressure tank may feed coolant to the reservoir when hot. If there's a crack in the neck of the pressure tank or, more likely, the fitting to the hose leading to the reservoir, coolant can flow out but air suck back in. Or a bad cap can cause the same thing and the level in the black pressure tank will drop.
Also, sometimes the float in the pressure tank acts up and gives an erroneous warning. The float switch goes bad too. But if you're actually seeing low level in the black tank, it's not the float or switch.
Check these tanks and fittings closely before worrying about other causes of loss like leaking water pumps or head gaskets.
Hope this helps.
 
thanks guys i will check both. the problem is that it stopped after leaking heavily for awhile. i couldn t go more than 15 miles without having to refill the reservior back up. so for 50 miles i had to stop no less than 3 times to refill the reservior. then for no reason the leak stopped and i drove the last 60 miles without a leak. its driving me crazy. has anyone else had this happen. i just don t get it that it would stop.
 
Can you see where the leak is coming from?

Check all the hose clamps to make sure they are tight. Pressure check the system.

Check the dip stick for coolant just in case you have a head gasket gone bad. (Does the exhaust show steam well after the car is warmed up?)
 
I had a similar problem and it turned out I had a cracked radiator. It was weird cause it would leak real bad then stop for awhile to this day I can't figure out why.
 
The only way to find a coolant leak is via a pressure check.

Else you could replace every component in your engine compartment, one by one. Do the check.
 
hey thanx for all the ideas everyone. it turns out that it is a head gasket. i m not happy about it but at least i know it is, and i can now repair it.
 
Good thing - a bad head gasket can ruin the oil if the coolant is getting in the oil pan and that will ruin the bearings and lots more if it ain't repaired.
 

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