Had a similar leak many years ago. Determined it to be the thermostat housing gasket. I removed the housing, sanded flat the mounting surface & installed a cork gasket. no more leak.
I looked at that tstat housing closely as I had replaced it a month ago. It is BONE dry. No fluid sitting on top of the water pump just below it of which my pic is a place below the top of the pump. Unless the hose in the pic is leaking that I can not see it sure seems to me that the fluid is oozing from the gasket right there at the place it is pooling. I don't know, make no sense how it is leaking when the system has no pressure on it.
Doesn't need pressure to leak if the leak is big enough. Go to your local Auto Zone and rent a coolant pressure tester like Smartin suggested. You'll be able to pinpoint it easily with a little pressure in the system. It could possibly be the timing cover gasket, but if it was me, I'd want to be damn sure before I start tearing the engine apart. Gut feelings are of no value in diagnosing engine problems
Well put all new hoses, rad in car today. Started putting rad fluid in rad. With in about 2 minutes rad fluid started coming out of the tab with the black hole in the middle located to the right of the bolt shown in pic where the fluid is sitting. I cleaned it all up first before filling. It was clearly coming out of the tab. It was suggested I take that bolt out and put sealant on the bolt and put it back in, that that seal it?
You can try sealing the bolt and maybe you'll get lucky. If coolant is coming out around the dowel pin, you could have a bad timing cover gasket. You can try snugging up the bolts. It may stop the leak, or it may leak worse, or the bolt could break! You're sure that it's not leaking between the lower radiator hose and the timing cover? It looks pretty corroded.
I cleaned up all the nasty looking hose mounts. The lower rad hose was bone dry no leaking from it. When it started leaking that black hole you could see fluid coming out. Car was not even started yet, just about one thing of rad fluid put in and it started flowing from that black hole. I think it needs torn down and a new cover gasket is needed. New WP while in there, then maybe TC replaced. This repair is above my pay grade. How much to pay a good shop that works on old cars charge for this type of repair, ball park figure?
Shop replace TC. LMAOROTF Unless you know some that works on old BOPs or AMCs. Id say $5000 Minimum...
What does LMAOROTF mean? I assume that it's "laugh my ass off", but I don't know what "ROTF" means. If I were to replace the timing cover, I'd start with 4-5 hours, maybe add a couple if the bolts broke in the block, assuming that a new cover was being used. More than likely it will need a timing chain. Parts can start adding up, timing cover $250- $500, oil pump and cover, water pump, timing set, gaskets, etc.
Well you had an overheating issue, correct? You could have been weeping fluid all along from this junction, just enough to cause a low coolant situation but not enough to be noticed. You don't need power tools to do that job , although that makes it easier. You certainly don't want to put it back together until it's fixed properly, once coolant leaks it will not stop until fixed..
PO myself The way the pictures look Id be adding a New or used timing cover to parts list.. All that pitted corrosion no way are you going to get the hose to seal... You may get lucky and move the hose clamp a smidge to get a better water tight surface... Sand paper???????
You really don't need air tools. Actually, I wouldn't use air tools except for the balancer bolt. You want to slowly work the bolts back and forth with a lot of penetrating oil. If you're replacing the timing cover, you don't have to worry about the water pump bolts breaking. Luckily you're in Ohio. With all of the rain in the forecast, you'll have until next spring to get it done! As to why it started leaking now, it was just time to start leaking.You're lucky that it's leaking externally(hopefully only externally). A coolant leak internally will destroy your bearings.
I have been checking the oil before the over heat and since and it appears there is no rad fluid in it. No white tint to it, no foamy stuff on the dipstick.
Well at this point it is a repair for someone that knows where they are doing. So the car sits, to many other things in the pipeline before this to be spending money on.
Is the oil pan on my car with a 350 a 14 bolt oil pan? Starting my research on parts and costs. I am seeing timing chain covers for this car new at 150 bucks give a buck or two.
You don't have to remove the oil pan to do the timing cover gasket. I wouldn't order parts until the cover is off. If the bolts come out and the engine oil was changed at regular intervals, the cover might be fine. Maybe the cover has been off before.
