Coolant leaking out of tranmission

[zreon]

Well I think my car might be in trouble. My heat hasn't worked since I got the car and I decided to change the thermo stat today so see if that would help. I drained and flushed the system, installed the new thermostat and the heat still doesn't work. However, now I noticed a pretty substantial coolant leak. It is dark right now so I can't see everything that great, but it was coming from where the transmission attaches to the engine.

I have never dealt with a coolant leak and the spot that it is leaking from seems like it shouldn't be leaking there. Has anyone ever had a leak here? I did some searching but can't seem to find anything. Any suggestions?

[Daninski]

You have to wonder if the block was cracked and buddy added stop leak and flogged the car to you. I certainly hope not. Call him up and ask. I suspect the coolant is coming from above the trans and leaking down. Lots of places to leak up there.

[zreon]

I have had the car for 2 years now.

I just did a little more digging and read about a leaky freeze plug that might be causing this. I've never heard of that part. I will check it out tomorrow when it is light out.

[Ryan]

depending on what motor you have...

Hope you added a new gasket.
Hope your torqued it properly.

Like Danny said, there's a whole lot to leak up there. Themo housing needs a new gasket, you sound smart enough to have done that... All the little plugs and sensors could have a check over, the piping could be checked...

Further to the pully side, behind the exhaust manifold there is a joint where the coolant bypass hose connects to the lower rad hose. There's a little O ring in there that could allow much leakage, if maybe its not on the tranny side...

You'll find it eventually.

[zreon]

Thanks for the suggestions Ryan. Yes I did give the thermostat a new gasket. I will inspect it further in the morning and update on the situation if I find anything. I hope it isn't anything too bad.

[zreon]

Well I found the problem but now I am royally screwed. The bolt on the engine where the nut screws the thermostat housing broke off. Not the bold that screws into the engine, but the stud coming out.

Without tearing everything apart, it looks like there is no hope now.

[Ryan]

Wow. You could drill and tap in another stud. Thats not so hard.

Just thinking about it, I think you could fit a good sized drill against that hole, if you remove all the intake stuff.

Just keep in mind, depening on what kind of stud you buy, which way to tap the hole.

I would advise trying to NOT drill though the entire block wall, just a ways in. That will be luck, because I have no idea how thick it is.

[zreon]

Well I took my distributor off and the thermostat housing back off and luckily there was a little bit of the stud still sticking out. So I busted out the dremel, sand 2 of the sides flat and managed to back it out with some vice grips. Put everything back together, but it is still leaking at the bottom. What I think is happening is the thermostat is falling down a little bit when I put the housing on so it is preventing the housing from sitting flush with the engine block. I am going to take it apart before work in the morning to see if that is the problem.

I love when simple little jobs turn in to a weekend job, haha.