Mystery coolant leak... Save me from the junkyard!

[sneechsandwich]

Over the summer, after $1000 in suspension work, my '94 MX-3 has inconsistently been sucking down coolant. I keep up on all my fluids and maintain the car, but this situation has been weird. Replaced rusted transmission lines that hold coolant. Replaced a bulged radiator hose (upper i think) and i recall adding one or two jars of stop leak some months before that. A couple of times, it has left PUDDLES on the ground. Then i start it, it runs fine, and leaks a couple drops. Then a puddle. I already bought a truck i need for work, but don't want to get screwed after all the maintenance, money and work i've put into this one- it's been great for 3+ years. I have loved having MX-3s and want this one to go to someone who will love it as much. If i can't figure this leak out, I guess it's going to get parted out. I'm not letting new quick struts, etc go to waste...anyway the leak is somewhere i can't see behind the driver's side headlight.

Thanks!

[Ryan]

There is no coolant behind the headlight. On teh outside of the frame rail is the overflow resevoir, that shouldn't leak. On the inside of the frame rail is pretty much the rad, and the main rad hoses to the motor, and a little low pressure line between the rad cap and the overflow.. Its a pretty easy system to trace. If its leaking, you should easily be able to see where from.

[sneechsandwich]

I've checked all of those possibilities, and during all of this, the temp gauge never budges, but like i said i keep all my fluids topped off. So, if it's not coolant....wtf? This is why i'm so confused, i've looked several times, and can't find where the problem is. Yet the magical puddle appears...any reason this is so sporadic? I thought maybe the stop leak plugged a leak somewhere, or is blocking something, causing a temporary leak when under pressure...i'm really just guessing...

[mxmikey]

buy a pressure gauge and crank it up it will show you the leak

[sneechsandwich]

well, i looked again this morning. it's definitely coolant and it looks to be leaking from the top driver side of the radiator. I remember replacing the radiator in my last MX-3, something about part of it being plastic and metal and not being patchable. i was going to pull the new one before i scrapped it....

[Ryan]

it could be the rad. They stupidly put plastic end caps on it.

[sneechsandwich]

Craptastic. Well, it's for sale just needs the radiator...will be posting pics soon.

[sneechsandwich]

There's the puddle......

[Ryan]

Crawl under your car and trace it up... it could be simple, like the washer behind the entrance for the transmission cooler line...

[sneechsandwich]

I will keep examining. It is leaking down from near the top of the radiator. I'll probably have to remove a couple things to see the source.