There's coolant in that there hole?

[GTOger]

As you may have read elsewhere on this forum, we just took the ZR-1 on a nice little trip and put about 3k miles on her. The car performed flawlessly the entire way.

Then the weekend we get back, the car starts running rough. Stumbles at idle. Backfires when you lift off the gas. Shakes. Rattles from the top end. It's not itself. Every time I've had opportunity to be under the hood it's been dark. Tonight I got out some lights and had a look.

One of the first things I notice is a wet spot on the underneath of the hood. It's roughly over the back passenger side spark plug. Uh oh.



Then I look around and find:


And this:


And this:
[

A very careful eye will detect areas of green coolant around the bolts and in the valley and it looks to me like it has come from somewhere in the vicinity of that back passenger side plug.

Tomorrow afternoon I will pull it and see what I can find, although as we all know the visibility into that plug hole just plain stinks.

Avid readers may recall the wife and I pulled the plenum and did an injector replacement on this motor just before Christmas time. We've put somewhere around 3500 miles on the car since then. It sure is gonna stink if we have to pull this thing apart again.

Advice and suggestions, as always, are welcome and encouraged.

[carter200]

My vote is new gasket install time. Make sure and get the best gaskets you can find. Good luck ...

[GTOger]

Super. Which gasket sets do you figure I'll need to order? My guess is I'll go back to Jerry's Gaskets since he has treated me well so far.

Man... 5k miles I've put on the car and I'm tearing into it for the 2nd time. I'm hoping it's not because the car hates me.

[VetteMed]

Originally Posted by GTOger

Super. Which gasket sets do you figure I'll need to order? My guess is I'll go back to Jerry's Gaskets since he has treated me well so far.

Man... 5k miles I've put on the car and I'm tearing into it for the 2nd time. I'm hoping it's not because the car hates me.

Definitely head over to Jerry's, he will take good care of you as he has before.

I've had to pull the plenum in my current Z at least 5 times in less than a year of ownership, and less than 500 miles - it's a matter of getting the bugs worked out, but don't despair, once it's "right" it's really RIGHT.

[carter200]

I'm not the expert but with help from Jerry or Kurt you'll be in good hands. You must have been good to her and she wants to be stroked one more time


PS: Nice choice on the Goat and HD!

[GTOger]

Thanks VetteMed & Carter200. I guess I ought to go ahead and do the plug wires as long as I've got the plenum pulled. (sigh) now I wonder what else I ought to be spending money unexpectedly on!

[todesengel]

Yuck, a gto? GTO's are for sissy's ya know

[A26B]

You might check the small coolant line that tees into the RH side of the plenum & runs forward to the T/B and towards the rear of the engine as an alum tube that turns toward the upper coolant tank, connected with a rubber hose. From the looks of the hood & the cam cover, i would be more suspect of that line & hoses than a gasket.

[Paul Workman]

Originally Posted by A26B

You might check the small coolant line that tees into the RH side of the plenum & runs forward to the T/B and towards the rear of the engine as an alum tube that turns toward the upper coolant tank, connected with a rubber hose. From the looks of the hood & the cam cover, i would be more suspect of that line & hoses than a gasket.

That would be my vote too! And, one could always rent a coolant pressure tester from AutoZone, pressurize the system and see where the leak is coming from ... Maybe with a little help from a spray bottle and some soapy water, if the coolant level has dropped below the level of the leak..

Just a thought.

P.

[PhillipsLT5]

Good call Jerry, the rubber on that line will probably be dry after 20 years, try to tighten clamp