[Rage_of_Inferno]

Originally Posted by fahadsul3man speaking from my own experience the heating core is busted and the coolant is leaking from the front passenger side , bypassing it is gonna be cheap but no heater >.<

If that's true would I still get heat? Heat works great. Everything was working great until this happened. I don't think I would bypass in a Minnesota winter.

[jhax78]

pressure test the cooling system might help find the problem

[Rage_of_Inferno]

Originally Posted by jhax78 brown nastyness inside is stop leak for sure they knew about the leak and fixed it cheap

I've seen a video of a guy showing how to spot if you have a blown intake manifold gasket and he showed his radiator cap. It looked like mine except I have a thicker wall of sludge. It supposed to turn white apparently but I havent seen anything like that.
Determining intake manifold gasket leaks - YouTube

[fahadsul3man]

Before bypassing heating core u can but as the coolant is gettin leaked u have to refill it daily , btw did u notice any steam from the vents inside the car before the leakage ? and how much does it leak ? mine started to produce steam inside car and after few days it was leaking in the front passenger side and had to refill it daily after like a week it was really gettin annoying so i bypassed it

[jhax78]

ok sry i was thinking like a european :P

this looks like your problem indeed

if oil leaks into the cooling system coolant leaks into the oil too i would flush the whole system if i where you

replacing gaskets shouldn't be to hard imo
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Originally Posted by fahadsul3man Before bypassing heating core u can but as the coolant is gettin leaked u have to refill it daily , btw did u notice any steam from the vents inside the car before the leakage ? and how much does it leak ? mine started to produce steam inside car and after few days it was leaking in the front passenger side and had to refill it daily after like a week it was really gettin annoying so i bypassed it

im sure it's not the heating core it wouldn't produce that gunk inside the cooling system that gunk is oil or either leak stop but i go for oil in this case

[Rage_of_Inferno]

Originally Posted by fahadsul3man Before bypassing heating core u can but as the coolant is gettin leaked u have to refill it daily , btw did u notice any steam from the vents inside the car before the leakage ? and how much does it leak ? mine started to produce steam inside car and after few days it was leaking in the front passenger side and had to refill it daily after like a week it was really gettin annoying so i bypassed it

Nope no steam or warning of any kind. I was at a vacuum cleaning the inside and when I pulled away I saw a puddle it was orange-brownish colored I thought it was oil at first until I touched it.
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Who sends these bots to this site by the way lol

[Sawatis]

Originally Posted by Rage_of_Inferno I thought I would make the title of this thread interesting to draw attention to it . That being said I have some automotive questions to ask I know this might not be the best forum to go to but I'm sure there is someone who might be able to help. I bought a 1999 Chevy Lumina (200,000 miles) recently and everything seemed ok it needed some new tires and an oil change but it was running great. I probably shouldn't have done this but I brought it to a shop even though I can change oil myself. The day after I changed it I was leaking coolant from the lower left side (if you were facing the hood). I did some research and I'm sure it's not the water pump or hoses and must certainly be the intake manifold gasket. The is a common problem with the 3.1 v6 engine from what I understand. My question is do you think it is possible that the mechanic sabotaged the seal in some way to try and get me to come back? Is that possible? ************* [ - Post Merged - ] ************* My first thought was that he seemed pretty honest and gave me a decent price on the oil change. A person at the local auto parts store referred me there and some nice things to say about them. I really want to do this myself I already spent $650 on the car and another $105 for front tires and an oil change. Does anyone have a link to a video that can help me do this myself? I found a few but they don't teach you anything they just tell you what they did and I don't comprehend all of the terminology. I have alot of time to do this so it won't be a problem for me. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Oh I forgot to mention I was going to take it in to be tested with dye to make sure where it's leaking. Should I have that done or can I be confident that this is the problem since it isn't the water pump? ************* [ - Post Merged - ] ************* I should probably mention they want to charge me $40 to inspect the leak which is why I ask. I don't want to waste money on something if I'm pretty sure what the problem is. The leak couldn't come from something other than what I already talked about right?

i wouldent doubt it one bit.. i worked at a garage and found out alot. for instance they would take 2 hours to fix your car and charge you for 4-5 hours... its 68$ an hour .....WTF... also this garage would tell you that you need something changed that you dont.... man mechanics are super fkd up. ESPECIALLY canadian tire.... car broke down in montreal they wanted 5000$ to fix it and had this huge list of crap.. towed it to a friend and fixed it for 40$....

[Rage_of_Inferno]

Originally Posted by Sawatis i wouldent doubt it one bit.. i worked at a garage and found out alot. for instance they would take 2 hours to fix your car and charge you for 4-5 hours... its 68$ an hour .....WTF... also this garage would tell you that you need something changed that you dont.... man mechanics are super fkd up. ESPECIALLY canadian tire.... car broke down in montreal they wanted 5000$ to fix it and had this huge list of crap.. towed it to a friend and fixed it for 40$....

If he did it had to be super quick he said he would change the oil in 15 minutes and he did. That's why I was asking if it was possible so I could gauge whether it was something he could do in that kind of time frame. I'm thinking the seller did something to hide a problem with the car rather than a mechanic creating more business for himself. It's either that or I'm paranoid and it's just the natural breakdown of a water pump.
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Originally Posted by jhax78 ok sry i was thinking like a european :P this looks like your problem indeed if oil leaks into the cooling system coolant leaks into the oil too i would flush the whole system if i where you replacing gaskets shouldn't be to hard imo

He sure makes a good case of it in that video that's for sure. I haven't checked the oil yet. I'm going to bed now I'll worry about this headache tomorrow. Thanks you all for your help everyone I'll keep you posted.

[mack19318]

its more than likely some type of stop leak. does any of the areas of your engine have a slight sparkle to it? i know alot of stop leak stuff looks like it has metal flakes in it, stuff like bars leak does. most of the time stop leak will turn your engine to sh!t quick. Before you go doing stuff get the rad flushed. Easy at home way is pull off upper tube and lower tube. stick garden hose in upper and let run till you see pure water coming out lower hose. The other guys are right about letting a pro do it if it is gaskets. a lot of times if it is a gasket leak it can create an overflow problem with the coolant tank, the coolant lid should have a release built in so if its under to much pressure it will blow it out to prevent damage, but it would also release a lot of coolant right away.

[KillerBug]

Originally Posted by Rage_of_Inferno I've seen a video of a guy showing how to spot if you have a blown intake manifold gasket and he showed his radiator cap. It looked like mine except I have a thicker wall of sludge. It supposed to turn white apparently but I havent seen anything like that. Determining intake manifold gasket leaks - YouTube

This is just if you have a leak between the coolant and oil passages...not if you just have a coolant leak.

Originally Posted by Sawatis i wouldent doubt it one bit.. i worked at a garage and found out alot. for instance they would take 2 hours to fix your car and charge you for 4-5 hours... its 68$ an hour

It is called book rate...the computer tells them how long the job should take. If the mechanic is skilled, he can do the job faster...that is just how the industry works. He did the job you would have paid a beginner mechanic 4 hours for, so why do you fault him for charging the same amount for the same job? Should be make less money because he has more skills and better tools? On the flip side, if there are bolts that snap off, stripped threads, or other problems it might take him 6 hours...but he will still only charge 4. BTW...$68 an hour is a very low rate. The last place I was working before I hurt my back and had to leave charged $110 an hour...and people were happy to pay it because the work was done correctly the first time.

Originally Posted by mack19318 its more than likely some type of stop leak. does any of the areas of your engine have a slight sparkle to it? i know alot of stop leak stuff looks like it has metal flakes in it, stuff like bars leak does. most of the time stop leak will turn your engine to sh!t quick. Before you go doing stuff get the rad flushed. Easy at home way is pull off upper tube and lower tube. stick garden hose in upper and let run till you see pure water coming out lower hose. The other guys are right about letting a pro do it if it is gaskets. a lot of times if it is a gasket leak it can create an overflow problem with the coolant tank, the coolant lid should have a release built in so if its under to much pressure it will blow it out to prevent damage, but it would also release a lot of coolant right away.

They make garden hose adapter valves for the heater hoses...you just put the valve in, turn on the hose, and take off the radiator cap. Do all this while the engine is off and cold, then start the engine and let it run like this. Once the stuff coming out of the radiator is nice and clean the system is flushed...the whole system, not just the radiator.