Thanks for the pics!!! I've never seen one taken down, so great to be able to see. I've been dealing with leak problems too. After replacing water pump (did need it, seeping out the weep hole), then finding that the major leak was in one of the 'heater core tube assembly' tubes that ruptured badly and suddenly, bypassed those with hose. Only to discover that when I'd let a shop put pressure on the system looking for that leak (unnecessary, it'd drip pretty noticeably if you just turned the engine on and back off), they'd popped the radiator. Replaced it. Ran for a few min, no leaks, WHEW! Drained a little water off, put in prestone coolant cleaner (run with it 3 to 6 hours) & let it idle for about 20 min.
Suddenly there was a NEW leak under the car but coming from the same area you note. Oily water. I turned the car off. Waited a few min, pulled oil dipstick and oil looked like coffee with a little creme in it. :-( NOT blowing any smoke out the tailpipe. Engine running fine. Temp higher than I'd like tho at about 3/4 of the way across the gauge towards hot (or about on the "l" in the word 'normal' that's across the middle of the gauge).
I figured, with helpful input from folks here and on another forum & a few friends that it had to be head gasket or intake manifold seal there on the passenger side. I had low back surgery about 7 weeks ago tho, and am limited on just how much I can crawl into engine and stay bent over, and never was able to pinpoint where the leak was originating. Water pump totally dry along entire sealing edge etc., but when under the car the leak was coming from or dripping down onto where the crankshaft pulley shaft goes into a housing, then down the bottom of that housing to again dissappear and drop off onto I guess part of the exhaust system, causing a good bit of steam/smoke to come up thru the engine compartment, and then of course running onto the ground.
I'm nowhere near up for trying a head gasket right now all things considered, and not worth the expense of dropping a used or rebuilt engine into it by the time you add typical mechanic's labor rates. So.... I decided to try one of those head gasket/block/freeze plug/cracked head sealers.
Put it in yesterday per instructions - first had to remove thermostat. I was floored, got the housing out ok, but the thermostat itself was about welded into the housing!!! Not to mention a fair amount of the same red colored crud/corrosion attached to the inside of the housing most of which came out easily enough with a wire toothbrush carefully applied. I could NOT get the thing out. Wound up with one of the guys at the nearby checkers autoparts finally managing to get it out using long handled channel locks.
Anyhow, I ran the sealant at idle as directed tho a bit longer than the 50 min on the bottle directions (sealant tech support guy said that was a good thing to do). With the one I used, you start with engine cold - so at roughly 40 min running, presto, suddenly no more smoke from engine compartment, and no more dripping onto the ground. Engine temp had been at about the 'a' in normal, and about that time it drifted down to more like the 'o' or even 'n.' Let it run about 70 or 80 min total, then took the car to have the oil changed, then drove it maybe 3 to 6 miles city roads for a short errand. It was running bottom end of normal temp, on the "n" in "normal."
Got home, coolant level hadn't changed, oil looked totally clean and normal. Took it onto the interstate today - approx 99 degrees out, drove about 25 min total, 20 mi roundtrip, mostly at 65 to 75 mph. Took it awhile to warm up (still just water & the sealer & no thermostat), then it ran the first half at speed mainly with temp on "o" or "r" of "normal." Last half more at 70 to 75, running mainly on the "m."
Once home, coolant level in overflow tank hadn't seemed to have changed at all, no dripping from under the car, oil still clean as a whistle...
I'm praying. Will run it a few more days with the sealer in, then drain enough out to put new thermostat in, & to add antifreeze. Probably will leave the sealer in, which bottle directions & tech support both say is fine.
Wish I could run the coolant cleaner to flush out the block etc., but won't because god knows how it might interact with the sealer, the sealed areas, etc.
If I had seen your photos first, I would have gotten distilled water and used it instead of tap before putting the sealant in however. Now that its already in, I'll leave it, but any more water I ever need to add will be distilled. We've got horribly hard water here and I wish I'd thought to use distilled from when I first moved here.
