1998 Jimmy coolant leak

"Tim or Linda" wrote

It will either be the water pump, intake gasket, or it might even be something as simple as the t/stat gasket. You should be able to see the t/stat quite easily and rule it out. Intake is hard to see as the aluminum brackets that bolt to the front of the engine cover up most of the head to intake intersections. Water pump will be obvious if you can see coolant coming from the vent hole on the bottom side of the water pump. Or you can reach under the water pump and see if you get any coolant on your fingers (engine "not" running, of course)

Ian

Glad you said engine not running LOL. Do you think I should try leak stop for just go for tearing it apart.

Check between the valve cover and the lower intake at the front of the engine, driver side. The lower intake gaskets seem to deteriorate there.

I wouldn't advise anyone using stop leak on any cooling system.. Stop Leak products generally narrow (already small) passages in the engine, radiator, and pipes, so the system doesn't cool as effectively as it could. Also, the compound can break apart in chunks, and block passageways completely, causing overheating problems, I've also seen the stuff get wedged into the thermostat, so it wasn't able to properly close, making for a REALLY long warm up time in the winter..

It has some liquid just under the T Stat housing but that does on appear to be where its coming from. Its also wet behind the AC unit but that all I can see till I tear it apart

"Tim or Linda" wrote

That "sounds" like it will end up being the intake gasket. As Bonneville mentioned, the intake gaskets seem to like to leak at the drivers side front, and passenger side rear.

Ian

and that sounds like a hard fix for a driveway in the cold