The coolant is leaking... the overflow bottle will empty itself out in about 48 hours.
Ive got pics of where the coolant is leaking out at... http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2540114/1 (Page 2)

I think all that i just need to put some sealant in there where its leaking... but im not really sure. What do yall think?

 

Dude by the looks of your pics you need to replace your intake gaskets.

 

Don't know how to edit my own post yet. lol

Do not try patching that up with sylicone. that won't fix the intake gasket under the head. You WILL eventually if not already, be getting coolant in the oil. and thats not good.

 

Thanks Tubbed, Ill replace the intake gasket... Do you know how difficult this is to do?

 

The difficulty level depends on your own ability level.

Its not hard to do, more less time consumeing. With the help of this board and some Faqs for the torc specs you won't have a prob. Just remember to mark the distributor so it goes back in the right way. Take your time, mark everything unless you have a good memory, and your good to go.

 

Yea, TPI isn't exactly fun to take off and put back on..... like posted above.... time consuming.

 

takes 30 minutes to remove, takes 1 1/2 hours to put back on right.

Take masking tape, label all your vacuum lines and fuel injector wires.
Mark your distributor.

Disconnect negative battery terminal.
Disconnect the following:
Radiator hose top
two coolant lines to TB
3 vacuum lines TB (label them)
disconnect all fuel injector connectors (9th injector too if you have one)
disconnect PCV hose and Power booster hose
disconnect fuel regulator vacuum line
disconnect EGR vacuum line.
disconnect vacuum lines beside the coil.

Remove the upper plenum bolts 4 on each side.
loosen the lower runner bolts
plenum should be free enough to remove.
Remove remaining runner bolts, there is one on the backside corner of each runner.
Remove the four fuel rail bolts.
Loosen the two fuel rail fittings in he front (5/8" and 3/4")
gently pull the fuel rail up
runners should be free to remove.
remove fuel rail.
Mark distributor then remove.
remove all lower intake manifold bolts, then remove coil.

remove all gasket materials and clean surface.
Add a line of sealant RTV on the front and back china walls.
Apply sealant around both sides of each coolant passage on your intake manifold gasket. install and put on lower intake manifold.
Torque bolts to 25-30 ftlbs.

Now would be a good time to replace thermostat gasket and thermostat.
Also continuity check on all fuel injectors... now is a great time to replace a bad one. 12 ohms and up is consider acceptable.

replace lower fuel injector orings on fuel injectors. Lube rings with engine oil, or vasiline.
set fuel rail in position, do not push in yet.
install runners loosely with new gaskets on.
Push in fuel rail and seat all injectors
install 4 10mm bolts

everything else should be reverse of removal..

hope this helps.

 

dont think it is intake gaskets...

 

It's the intake gasket.Not thinking won't stop the intake gasket from leaking.

See that little square hump sort of place on the intake manifold, right between those 2 bolts? That's a coolant passage; carries coolant from the head to the thermostat.

Change the gasket. It's probably also leaking coolant into the oil, and that turns the oil into something that doesn't lubricate. Very very bad.

 

LOL, what?! Did you happen to see the pics? Exactly how do you not agree the intake gasket is leaking?

 

Thank you all for your help, expecially nelapse! Thats exacting what i was needing to know, thank you. Ill be working on the car tomorrow, and ill let you know how it all goes.

 

and i did see the pics smart-*** but i was looking at the thermostat housing that is all rusty and just below it that is rusty just above the head so instead of having this guy rip apart a motor why not have him check the thermostat housing gasket first then look else where as that might save alot of work

 

Before you expend a bunch of time & money on replacing the gaskets on the intake manifold, it could be the thermostat housing gasket, so I agree with the member above. Personnaly, I have had the thermo housing gasket leak on me and the coolant pooled same as in your pics.

Replace the easiest gasket first, I think that you might have to remove the TB to get the two bolts out of the thermo housing.

 

That is what I thought it was at first but I doubt it is the thermostat gasket. Reason being, look how far the coolant traveled down the lower manifold. I doubt it traveled by the valve cover lip.

 

Car momentum and air under the hood can cause the coolant to move along the side of the intake manifold.

 

I am not seeing it moving from that particular spot to the other. There is no straight shot to point A to B. Besides there is no coolant pooled by the thermostat cavity. Which would be the first sign. I see a dark spot but that could just be dirt or perhaps a hose leaked one day.

 

my waterneck looks like that too and its not leaking coolant.... id say 99.999999999% for sure the intake gasket

 

well i know i would be pissed if i took the motor apart and replaced gaskets and didnt fix the problem so why not try the easyest first

 

if you car is at that point why not replace all the gaskets and learn a thing or two in the process. He has never done this before and this will do nothing but help.

 

Whatever you decide you dont have to label the injectors. Its not SFI its batch fire. Only one you have to remember is the 9th. The rest can go to any injector.

 

Another thing that small block chevy motors are notorious for is leaking coolant from the intake manifold bolts, especially the ones right next to the coolant crossovers. If you look at the picture, the manifold is pretty dark and scaly where the second bolt back is. This is the exact same spot mine was leaking at a while back. Before replacing any gaskets, try removing the first two bolts on both sides, and either wrapping some teflon tape or use some liquid pipe thread sealant on the bolt threads and re-install them. I've seen this problem on countless small blocks, and nine times outta ten, this stops the leak. Use a wet/dry shop vac or some rags and soak up the extra coolant after putting the bolts back in, then take it for a drive and check for leaks again.

 

Look on the bright side it gives you a good reason the clean up your base,runners,and plenum and since you will have it apart you might as well buy a afpr since your already there,i had both the intake and t-stat leaking on my gta when i bought it

 

so i just finished intalling the gaskets and putting all the parts back on the car. I then went to start the car and it will crank but not fire. I know that there could be alot of reason for this but what are yalls ideas? Ive checked the sparkplugs and all the electrical connections are connected.

 

Possibly timing is off. Have someone or you crank the engine over while another person advances and retards the distributor to see if it'll fire up.

 

I doubt your distributor is 180* out since you are not backfiring through your intake. Just have someone turn it and it will fire..

 

ok, I cant figure out this whole timing thing. The distributor rotor rotates when the starter is cranked so i dont understand why it has to be in an exact position in order to give power to the spark plugs. It all looks like its in the same position as when i took it out. I also dont understand how to advance or retard the distributor... i cant seem find the timing mark.

 

Could it not be firing because of a different issue besides the timing? Because the car will not start at all right now.

 

OMG, you guys were in such a hurry to have him tear the whole top end of the motor apart, and he doesn't even know how to get the motor and distributor back in time. Looks like it's time to bust out a good old repair manual and do some reading. You can always stick an extra spark plug in the end of one of your wires, and touch it to something metal while someone cranks the motor over. Even if it's out of time, you should get spark to the plugs. If you're not getting any spark, obviously a wire or something is still disconnected. If you are getting spark, just read up in a repair manual on how to find TDC and where the #1 plug post is on the distributor so you can get it back in time. You'll also have to make sure the oil pump shaft is lined up properly or your distributor will not seat all the way. It'll stick up about 1/4", and your oil pump won't turn once the engine starts. A little patience and you'll get it going again. Good luck!

 

ok, after getting very frustrated I brought the car to a garage... about a week ago. They have been actually looking at it for 3 days now and it turns out... a piece inside the distributor was broken. So they fixed that... now the distributor is in time and is giving out spark. But the car still wont start. The mechanic said that the car's computer does not read the spark, therefore it wont start. It seems as though something is not plugged in right, or a ground has come undone or something. I had checked all the plugs many times and so has the mechanic... they are all as they should be. Tomorrow im gonna have to get it towed to an electric shop. But does anyone have any idea what is going on?

 

Sounds like the dist is not installed correctly. Specifically, it's probably 180° out of time; what that will do, is make the sparks occur on the OTHER instance of TDC that each cylinder passes through during one complete engine cycle, and it's sparking when the exhaust valves are just closing and the intake valves are just opening. Or if you want to look at it the other way, it's firing on the cyl that's 4 positions away in the firing order; #6 is getting spark when #1 should be, #5 is getting it when #8 is supposed to, etc.

I doubt anything was "broken" in the distributor, unless the "shop" broke it. Sounds to me like the guy that's working on it needs to be re-trained as a body man (that being what they do with people who can't make a motor run... teach em how to sand bondo). So here's how it's done.

Disconnect the 12V supply wire from the dist. Remove the #1 spark plug. Put a piece of 3/8" fuel line or some such in the #1 plug hole. Bump the starter in little increments until you just start to hear compression coming out of the tubing. From that point, turn the crank by hand slowly, in the direction that it spins when running (clockwise viewed from the front), until the timing mark on the crank damper just reaches the timing tab. Should take less than ¼ turn on the crank. If it takes more than that, or if you go past the timing mark, then bump it over again until you hear the compression, and turn it by hand again. This will line the engine up at #1 firing; i.e. #1 and #6 at TDC, #1 is at the instance of TDC where it fires, and #6 is at the instance of its TDC where the exhaust stroke is just ending and the intake stroke is just beginning.

Remove the distributor cap; note on the dist housing where the #1 plug wire is (its terminal on the cap is the one just to the driver's side of straight ahead) and remove the dist from the engine. Look down in the hole; you'll see the oil pump drive shaft down in there, looks kind of like a GREAT BIG slot-head screw. Take a large screwdriver or something, and turn it to where it's at a 45° angle away from straight front-to-rear, pointing from the rear pass side of the car to the front driver's side. Drop the dist partway back into the hole, but not far enough to engage the gear; maybe 2-3" shy of all the way. Hold the dist body in the exact position that it will eventually be installed in; which is, with the #1 plug wire terminal as described above. Rotate the dist shaft until the rotor points about 30° to the front of straight toward the driver's side of the car. Drop the dist back into its hole; it should engage the gear, and then since the gear teeth are not straight, the shaft will rotate clockwise as it drops in. The dist shaft will line up with the oil pump shaft, and go in all the way, until the dist reaches the intake. If it doesn't reach the intake but rather sits about ¼" above th intake and won't go down any further, then it's because the oil pump shaft isn't aligned quite right. In that case, pull it back out, and rotate the oil pump slightly one way or the other; keep doing that, and re-aligning the dist shaft as described, until it drops all the way in.

Look at the little star wheel teeth. Turn the dist body slightly until the teeth EXACTLY line up; then turn it SLIGHTLY (like maybe 10° of rotation of ht edist housing, which is less than ¼" around its outer edge) counter-clockwise. While holding the dist in this exact position, put the hold-down back on, and tighten the bolt until it's REAL HARD to turn the dist, but still possible. Put the cap back on, hook up all the wires, and otherwise re-assemble the car.

Reach in the window and start the engine. Let it run a minute or 2 to wram up a bit, then shut it off and set the timing by the usual procedure. Enjoy a leak-free car.