finding leaks

[tonyk72]

Since my 'vette is gonna be sitting around for at least another 3 months, I figure I'd try to fix some of the leaks that have been dripping in my garage. The problem is, I have no clue as to where the leaks are coming from. I know it's leaking oil, trans and coolant! Yeah! Nothing major, but I'd like to fix most (if not all) of them before spring. Any tips? Where/what are some common leaky areas? The are underneath is real messy, I figure I'll clean it up and just wait for the leaks to show their faces...might be easier to track. Thanks!

 

[Dave L.]

As far as the oil leak goes,the valve covers are the main culprit. When I bought my car the seller said it needed a rear main seal. The lower part of the engine was covered in oil. After cleaning up the mess and replacing the valve cover gaskets,not a drop anymore. Replacing the oil pan gasket would really seal things up nice down there! One other thing to check would be the back of the intake manifold. As far as the coolant leak... If you don't know the condition of the radiator,I would pull it,take it to a rad shop and have them clean it and check for leaks. I had mine done for $45. While the rads out,replace the water pump and ALL the hoses and your coolant leak should be fixed. Its not a hard job at all if you take your time.
You will have piece of mind when hot summer days roll around that your cooling system is in tip-top condition.

This is a good time of the year to tackle this type of project if you have place to do it.

Dave

 

[rpounds]

I won't try to disguise myself as an expert, but I'll give you a little of what I have seen as far as leaks are concerned. Seems like the most common oil leak is from the valve covers. A couple of weekends ago, my dad brought his '84 Chevy truck over (350 V-8) for me to take a look at. He had a terrible oil leak. Although he's a motor head from way back, his age and poor health keep him from crawling around trying to track down leaks. I put it up on ramps and crawled under. Oil everywhere!! I'll shorten the story here and just say that after looking things over, I decided to just check the bolts on the valve covers. With all the California smog equipment in the way, that's not an easy task. At any rate, I got to the bolts and was able to take a minimum of 1 1/2 full turns on each of the bolts in order to get them snugged up. The oil leak is gone.

On his transmission, the cooler lines were loose, again leaking fluid. Tightened them up and viola, no more leaks. I've also seen auto trans pans that suffer from being over tightened, which deforms the lip of the pan and squeezes out the gasket causing a leak.

I hope some of this helps you out. I know how frustrating finding fluid leaks can be.

 

[tonyk72]

Well whadaya know...I just checked my valve covers...the bolts on the left side were VERY loose...I just tightened them up a bit. This leads me to another question though...I'm paranoid and don't wanna overtighten any bolts so I went out and bought a torque wrench a few days ago. Granted I dont know what the specs are for valve covers yet, but I don't even know how to work the wrench. It's a Husky 39102 I got at Home Depot. I think after you set it to what you want it supposed to click or something...I dunno, came with no directions...I messed around with a few other bolts, didn't really get the "feel" for it.

Also, would it be a good idea to degrease the underbelly so I could track down my remaining leaks?

 

[JonM]

I bought one of these...you can use it in your cooling, trans, and oil systems...worked like a charm

http://www.tracerline.com