Coolant leaking on top of intake manifold??

[kevboost7]

I just did a intake plenum job and replaced all the coolant lines. Now i am noticing that coolant is collecting on top of the intake manifold by the balance tube. I am puzzled by where this coolant could come from?? Does anyone know? 

It was hard to get good pictures of it but it looks as if it's coming from the balance tube. 

The red arrow is where its collecting

Edited October 18, 2022 by kevboost7

[Duncan]

Pretty sure that coolant has come from the head coolant breather on the top right in your last pic, you can see the witness trail from it. 

But, there is coolant in the intake manifold after the throttles, so depending what you changed it could also be one of those gaskets.

[kevboost7]

34 minutes ago, Duncan said:

Pretty sure that coolant has come from the head coolant breather on the top right in your last pic, you can see the witness trail from it. 

But, there is coolant in the intake manifold after the throttles, so depending what you changed it could also be one of those gaskets.

That last picture wasn't mine. I found it on google. 

When you are referring to the intake manifold, are you referring to the balance tube right on top of it?

[Duncan]

Yes, the screw in the middle is the coolant bleed screw for the manifold, as it is higher than the radiator cap

[kevboost7]

22 minutes ago, Duncan said:

Yes, the screw in the middle is the coolant bleed screw for the manifold, as it is higher than the radiator cap

wait, its not that... because that picture i posted wasn't a picture of it, i just found it on google. Is it possible the o-rings on the balance tube gone to crap? 

[Murray_Calavera]

It would help if the pictures you post are actually of your car.

[joshuaho96]

1 hour ago, kevboost7 said:

wait, its not that... because that picture i posted wasn't a picture of it, i just found it on google. Is it possible the o-rings on the balance tube gone to crap? 

The balance tube has coolant flowing through it. There are a bunch of o-rings that seal up the balance tube to the intake manifold. That can be one leak path. The other is the intake manifold up against the cylinder head. The throttles themselves don't get coolant flow to my knowledge but the intake manifold does. I recommend undoing the harness on the balance tube so you can get a better look at where the leak is coming from. Certainly a lot easier than getting eyes on the back of the intake manifold up against the firewall.

[GTSBoy]

USB/WIFI inspection camera is only $30 on eBay. Just sayin'.

[joshuaho96]

1 hour ago, GTSBoy said:

USB/WIFI inspection camera is only $30 on eBay. Just sayin'.

Those things are so low res as to be useless for spotting leaks unless it's super obvious. It really shouldn't be that hard to figure out the source of the leak. If the actual photo wasn't out of focus it would be pretty easy to see what's going on.

[GTSBoy]

30 minutes ago, joshuaho96 said:

Those things are so low res as to be useless for spotting leaks unless it's super obvious

Not true. I'm not talking about those shitty all-in-one borescope things. I'm talking the ones that connect to an app on your phone. Quite good resolution. I use one regularly for inspecting the insides of industrial equipment. They are cheap, cheerful and I wouldn't be without one.

[soviet_merlin]

5 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

Not true. I'm not talking about those shitty all-in-one borescope things. I'm talking the ones that connect to an app on your phone. Quite good resolution. I use one regularly for inspecting the insides of industrial equipment. They are cheap, cheerful and I wouldn't be without one.

Did you buy yours on ebay? Would you be able to link to the listing? Or at least the brand name they use for it. Thanks!

I had a quick look at finding just a non-shit camera at some point but going through the listings I found it hard to figure out whether I was looking at junk or something that's actually worth buying.

[joshuaho96]

17 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

Not true. I'm not talking about those shitty all-in-one borescope things. I'm talking the ones that connect to an app on your phone. Quite good resolution. I use one regularly for inspecting the insides of industrial equipment. They are cheap, cheerful and I wouldn't be without one.

Would love to get a link, I keep using a chinesium harbor freight one and the image is horrifyingly blurry. It was useful for getting that paper towel out of my intake manifold but anything smaller than that and I had a hard time spotting anything.

[GTSBoy]

4 minutes ago, soviet_merlin said:

Did you buy yours on ebay? Would you be able to link to the listing? Or at least the brand name they use for it. Thanks!

I had a quick look at finding just a non-shit camera at some point but going through the listings I found it hard to figure out whether I was looking at junk or something that's actually worth buying.

Yes, eBay. Have had for a few years now, so the listings are not the same. I would suggest that most of these would be sufficiently close to the same thing that it wouldn't really matter.

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=wifi+inspection+camera&_sacat=0

This one though, appears to be the same one I bought. I got one with a 2m cable, for compactness, because I carry it all around the world, but you can also get 1, 5 & 10m lengths. The longer lengths are not useful without taping it onto a stick if you need rigidity, and not steerable if you need to control it inside something, but still might be desireable for some. But 2m seems like the best option to me. I only paid ~$25 for the 2m back then. Looks like prices have, understandably, crept up since. I did "guess" quite well at $30 in my first post above though!

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/363941200352?hash=item54bc9601e0:g:zqAAAOSwDUpi5TcL&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAsInvOgSeC%2FpzavmgsvfJjNJTNrIf1ZyW7EYIwG76Nfg3x4%2BKp1rYUt%2B3pIBPmvkZjm4OmBvjomQngDzTt1odFGXBk5JMHPSKgfEbZnU7vgu19BjYqHS9PlctnhLwkn3XyePoBjvVT5I2BoAuocIUB7isNXWIhTuW2161XJ5uO%2Bz6KujjZUBq%2Bh4%2B2G7DOke3o13w56ZqkZFPpF071P0p6sGQbfRo4ghPHK06Lf7Sw2Zo|tkp%3ABk9SR4y0qOj9YA

 

 

[soviet_merlin]

Thanks @GTSBoy, much appreciated! Just put in an order for the one you mentioned. To me they all look the same. It can't be any worse than trying to point the phone camera at things.

Should be here within a week or so. Can report back then on what it's like @joshuaho96.

[Murray_Calavera]

I use one of these, the picture quality is good provided there is light and you hold the camera steady.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/384797712333?chn=ps&_ul=AU&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1zz0Be6vuSQaRZ5rCDMTA6Q23&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=705-139619-5960-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=384797712333&targetid=&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9069120&poi=&campaignid=15984321586&mkgroupid=&rlsatarget=&abcId=9300814&merchantid=7364522&gclid=CjwKCAjwwL6aBhBlEiwADycBIK5EbdejstPcx13b5IOGikCmoij2n0jYOPk0drs-nJ9vXj9pswi9VhoCRPMQAvD_BwE

[kevboost7]

14 hours ago, joshuaho96 said:

The balance tube has coolant flowing through it. There are a bunch of o-rings that seal up the balance tube to the intake manifold. That can be one leak path. The other is the intake manifold up against the cylinder head. The throttles themselves don't get coolant flow to my knowledge but the intake manifold does. I recommend undoing the harness on the balance tube so you can get a better look at where the leak is coming from. Certainly a lot easier than getting eyes on the back of the intake manifold up against the firewall.

Let says that the o-rings went bad on the balance tube, would i be able to replace those without having to remove the intake plenum? 

Dear god i hope i dont have to do that job again. I just did it a week ago... 

[Duncan]

Yeah not fun...but back to an earlier question, exactly what did you have apart. It is highly unlikely something you didn't touch started leaking straight after you did something.

Did you just remove plenum, then throttles as a single unit, then intake manifold as a single unit? Or did you partially disassemble one or more of them?

[Duncan]

I should add, a radiator pressure test kit might be worthwhile if you are having trouble finding the leak. It pressurises the system from the radiator cap and  will make a leak location obvious

[joshuaho96]

6 hours ago, kevboost7 said:

Let says that the o-rings went bad on the balance tube, would i be able to replace those without having to remove the intake plenum? 

Dear god i hope i dont have to do that job again. I just did it a week ago... 

You can try but I have a feeling the answer is maybe not. The hoses and pipes that hold it to the vacuum box under the plenum are a really tight fit.

[RB335]

Often coolant pooling at random spots around the throttles can be a slightly loose or damaged bleed screw, it wont' be visible leaking but slowly seeps and gets under the throttles and leaks under