[Phoenix1]

Hi, ever since I got my bird, it has been slowly loosing coolant over time, and slowly emptying my wallet for the amount of coolant I had to go get. We finally found the leak. It is right above the water pump, but we are unsure of where it specifically leaks from. My car is a 2000 Firebird with the 3800 V6.

I have to add that I used straight water since I was sick of getting more coolant, which was obviously a big mistake using it long-term.

I can only supply a grainy photo of the leak with a generic red arrow. On the tip of the arrow, you can see a drop of water coming down from above the bolt that can be seen, but not coming from the bolt itself, and runs down along the side of the bolt head. The leak is not very big. Only a single drop of water runs down at a time. Something like 1 drop per 5 seconds? The engine was running at this time.

Does anyone know where it would leak from? I would appreciate the help.

 

[DOGs Firebird]

There's a plastic elbow that's right off to the right of that spot. That connects the water pump to the bottom of the intake. I've had them leak and break on me. Problem is that you can't see it very well. You'll probably break it when you take the water pump off. Good thing is they run about $5 for the pair.

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[Phoenix1]

There's a plastic elbow that's right off to the right of that spot. That connects the water pump to the bottom of the intake. I've had them leak and break on me. Problem is that you can't see it very well. You'll probably break it when you take the water pump off. Good thing is they run about $5 for the pair.

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Thanks, I will definitely look into that tomorrow. I'll give an update until then.

 

[Injuneer]

There are two plastic elbows that should both be replaced. There are aluminum replacement elbows available.

 

[djp88]

Also, jb weld works good on that. I use to have a 95 Thunderbird and the top left side had a nice crack in it it was not leaking but it seemed to stop the crack from spreading and leaking.

There are two plastic elbows that should both be replaced. There are aluminum replacement elbows available.

Get the aluminum part to bad ever thing is plastic bs now for weight and cost.

 

[Phoenix1]

Sorry it took long, but I took a closer look into the plastic elbow you were talking about, and it was in fact, leaking. I removed the old plastic ones, not knowing that each end on both elbows would break off, forcing me to spend a long time to get out with a coat hanger. One of the o-rings is forever lost inside the engine. Hope it won't cause trouble..

Anyways, I replaced them with those aluminium ones that supposedly last longer, and there was no more leaking.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the responses.