Hello everyone, I have a 1989 IROC-Z w. the 350 TPI that was put away for the winter towards the end of November. Halfway through the summer I noticed some small antifreeze puddles under the car and one day the puddle was so big it ran out past the passenger side door. After that day it continued the small puddles or sometimes nothing at all. I thought it was a soft plug. I took out the transmission (I was putting in a shift kit anyway) and the soft plugs look brand new (the motor was rebuilt by a past owner) and there is no sign of antifreeze whatsoever out of them. The heads are not leaking (it has never been overheated and there are no streaks running down the painted block) the water pump is fine, all lines are free of leaks as well. The ONLY sign of antifreeze is inside the inspection cover and a tiny bit on the very back corner on the passenger side of the oil pan lip, but the antifreeze was perfect green so it couldn't have come out of the oil pan. I then suspected that it may have leaked from another location and ran down the oil pan to the end where I noticed the antifreeze in the first place. That is why I looked at all other possibilities. The next day I got under the car and that little bit of antifreeze on the oil pan lip was gone.

Guys, I am completely stumped on this, any and all help will be really really appreciated.

 

Was the cooling system pressurized when you looked?

 

no, that is my next step. i guess i was hoping that someone would have a quick answer lol. my dad said he wanted to buy one of those tools anyway.

 

can you smell anti freeze when its running? can you smell it when the heater is on? it may be coming from your heater core or the lines going to it. check there.

 

found it guys! oh and 85projectz28, i did look there as well. but yeah there is a softplug hidden behind the starter. i noticed antifreeze on one of the starter bolts and took it off just to see and luckily i did so b/c that thing was ready to blow out. i'll be putting in a new one 2nite. thanks a bunch guys!

 

That's about the second-worst location to have one leak. Absolute worst are the ones behind the motor mounts.