Grrr Coolant leak at back of engine WTF?

[Adrian_Visser]

Fired the s52 up last night WOOT! It started up fine after only 5 seconds of cranking and I was very pleased with myself.

One problem: I went out to finish up some loos ends this morning and noticed a small puddle of coolant on the floor and in the skidplate under the bellhousing.

It is coming from the split line at the back right of the oilpan right in front of the bellhousing.


I immediately thought it was that coolant fitting at the back of the head for the heater hose but upon further inspection the fitting is dry and so is the back of the head and the upper bellhousing. In fact every thing above the split line is dry as a bone so it has to be coming from there.
I also checked the oil just to see if somehow the coolant was coming from in the pan longshot obviously no coolant in oil though.

Pic:

What the fuck is leaking?

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

I really don't want to pull the engine again and the prospect of dumping $80 worth of Mobil 1 15w50 to drop the oil pan sucks too.
I don't even wanna think about the possibility of it being a cracked block.

I know I read about hoveringuy having leaks from the bac of his head but...

[Farbin Kaiber]

Headgasket. That is my guess.

[Adrian_Visser]

Wouldnt I see that at the back of the head though?

The head to block split line is dry. Fuck I'll go check again...

There really aren't any openings for coolant back there are there?

[etxxz]

could be the water hoses for the heater/loop. i can't make out what i'm looking at on that pic. pressure of coolant while running is low. i'd expect to see oil (specially while cold) before coolant...

[Adrian_Visser]

could be the water hoses for the heater/loop. i can't make out what i'm looking at on that pic. pressure of coolant while running is low. i'd expect to see oil (specially while cold) before coolant...

It's looking from the passenger side at the back right corner of the oil pan. Right at the split line.

The heater hose connections are all dry... I gotta go have another look I have no idea how coolant could be coming from between the bellhousing/oilpan and block like that, I mean there's oil in the oil pan not coolant wtf?

[Farbin Kaiber]

I've pulled a few m/s engines with 5-6, or 6 corner coolant leaks. Torquing the head to factory specs stopped the leaks for a few weeks/months.

[Adrian_Visser]

Hey Farbin you wouldn't know where I could find pics of the back of the block would you?

I can see the coolant coming out of that hole in the split line, I can barely see inside and there is definitely blue fluid in there it appears it may be running down the back of the block from somewhere.

I just can't remember there being any openings at all there. The top of the bellhousing and the rear cylinder head to block split line are dry. Do you think a HG leak could run down inside the bellhousing down the back of the block like that?

[Dominic49]

Did you check the block coolant drain underneath the headsers around cylinder 5-6

[samiam3356]

Did you check the block coolant drain underneath the headsers around cylinder 5-6

What I was thinking too Dom.

What Dom's talking about:

Sorta what you asked for:

[Adrian_Visser]

Well it is still dripping. The block drain plug is dry as a bone. Damnit! I am going to have to pull the transmission to see what's going on.

Here's my paint version of what I can see:

[Dominic49]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&&sa=X&ei=nwYcTOHJJYG78ga3mvGRDA&ved=0CCQQBSgA&q=coolant+uv+dye&spell=1

+ blacklight will help you find it

its about $15-20 at the auto part store will be cheaper than having to pull the trans (time wise)

[surebimmer]

Well there is no coolant around the oil pan area so it has to have dripped down from above. Get a cooling system pressure tester and see were its leaking from.