I have found the culprit! Unfortunately, like many other owners of cars with the series II 3800 it turned out to be the upper intake coolant leak. The little genius I bought the car from must have changed the upper intake right before I bought it (I know this because the date code on top of the part say april of
2002, I bought the car in october of 2002) anyway, when he installed the intake he forgot to put the egr pipe up through the upper intake so it proceeded to burn a quarter sized hole up through the plastic. Needless to say I won't drive
200 miles to the middle of nowhere (Iowa) to buy a car again. thanks for letting me vent a little.