I bought a 87 GTA a few weeks ago. The previous owner warned me that it had a slow leak and to keep an eye on the water level. I assumed it was probably the radiator but I parked the car in the garage last night and when I looked under the car this morning I saw a slow drip of water coming from the transmission pan (firewall area). The a/c isn't working so it's not coming from the condenser. No puddle anywhere near the radiator. Should I assume it's the heater core?

Also, I haven't found any water inside the car.

 

i chased a similar area leak . mine was coolant hose that goes into manifold below distributer . wiggle & pull on hose with gloves of course . you will see the leak if thats where it is . worked for me , good luck .

 

if its the heater core you'll have coolant on the passenger side floor boards inside the car.. its probably one of the hoses going to the heater core like the above mentioned

 

Are you two talking about the same place ? I checked the two hoses going into the heater core and they are both bone dry. If there is another hose below the distributor I don't think I could get to it from the top. Maybe I need to wait until I can get under the car and look. Whatever it is, it doesn't need pressure to leak. I haven't ran the car since yesterday morning and I can still see an occasional drip.

 

Well, I was just under my car and the only place I seen the drip come from was right above the starter. After doing research I'm thinking it may be the freeze plug leaking. I found one thread here on Thirdgen that talked about removing the whole engine, but my Chilton's manual doesn't say anything about that, it just says "remove necessary components". Are those "components" the engine? My oil looks normal, no milky residue. The cooling system on this car is pretty rusty, but I'm almost afraid to flush it right now. The car just has plain water in the radiator because of the leak, should I put in some "enviromentally friendly" coolant and just let it drip on the ground until I can get it fixed? It may be a little while.

 

if it is a freeze plug your much better off pulling the motor its much easier i dont think its even possible to do it inside the car

 

have you checked the above area ? doesn't sound like you have . it is repairable from above . you may have to move some things , but it can be done . check it out .

 

I checked everything from the top, I practically crawled over in there. Everything back there is bone dry, including the heater core connections.

I may go ahead and flush and try the Bars-Leaks thing. If it'll get by another year (1500 miles, max) while I work on the body that would be fine with me. With 164k miles, if this engine comes out it's being rebuilt completely (or replaced). There's no way I'm paying for the engine to be pulled only to replace some $35 freeze plugs.

 

Isnt there a drain for the heater core box that drains into the lower rear part of the engine compartment?

 

Hi Uncle Tom, how you been?
80schild, why not do it the easy way and pressure test the cooling system? That should show you where the leak is without any bother other than crawling under the car. Most auto parts stores that rent tools should have one.