[navyboy65]

Ok I have been having this problem for a while now. @ fisrt I had a noticable leak that leaked on the ground! It was comming from the heater box area. I tightened all the clamps and connections and that leaked seem to go away but I still have coolant use??? I have checked the plugs and they don't show signs off burning coolant? No water in oil or oil in water? Others have suggested its a head gasket leak or blown and I am not opposed to it I am just wondering what I need to do to find the leak/problem?
I have used a pressure tester and coulnd't find a leak. I left it on all night with only a slight drop in pressure. I don't have a white cloud comming from the tail pipe? My though is could it be blow turbo seals???
Any help or suggestions would be helpful!
My car:
1992 Spirit R/T TIII stock no engine mods, engine has about 85K miles.
If you like you can e-mail me directly @ [email protected]

 

[charger R/T]

how much coolant is it using? a pint a week or a month or what. Small leaks can evaporate and you can't see the coolant but coolant when dried will leave a white residue. a slow leak at say the radiator tank seam can dry up before it drips on the ground. The tank is hot enough to do this. look at all the seams of the radiator hose connections or any where else you can think of.
Tim

 

[navyboy65]

how much coolant is it using? a pint a week or a month or what. Small leaks can evaporate and you can't see the coolant but coolant when dried will leave a white residue. a slow leak at say the radiator tank seam can dry up before it drips on the ground. The tank is hot enough to do this. look at all the seams of the radiator hose connections or any where else you can think of.
Tim

Well depending on my driving I'm going to go with about a pint every 2-3 days. I have dye in the coolant and have gone over pretty much every where I can get the uv light. I have seen dye at most hose connections but tightened them and never seen them drip???

I will take a really good look tommorw?

 

[charger R/T]

Look at back corner of the head on the drivers side I believe I have read a TIII can leak from the head gasket in that area. I believe it would end up possibly on top of the trans. That is a hard spot to see anything with all the hoses. A pint every couple of days is a fair size leak.
Tim

 

[rc91 Spirit R/T]

I had a leak in my heater core, super small at first, later on smoke would come through the vents if you jumped on it. You can rule out the heater core by blocking the heater hose and pressure test it again. Or just block the heater core and see if your coolant usage stops.

 

[mopar2ya]

Dont forget the turbo coolant return line on the back of the block on the passenger side.

 

[LowSL2]

I'm having the same problem on my 92 R/T. I thought it was just a small leak from the rear corners of the head gasket. But something happened driving home from work the other night and I lost about a gallon of coolant. No visible leaks. Just some coolant on top of the trans. Pressure tested the system and no pressure drop at all and no fluctuation in the gauge when running. It's not consistent either. Sometimes it'll loose a little coolant. Other times it'll loose a gallon or more. I've tried everything to see the coolant coming from the corners of the head gasket and nothing. This is the strangest coolant leak I've ever dealt with in all my years of working on cars. After the major coolant loss the other night, I'm not going to drive it any more until I replace the head gasket or rebuild the engine.

I would assume you're having the same problem. It's a design issue on the head. The only way to fix it is to pull the head and use a Cometic. Which requires the head and block to be machined to a 50 RA (Roughness Average). Or have the little freeze plug on the head replaced with a plug and machined flat and try an OEM gasket and hope it doesnt leak again.

 

[mopar2ya]

When I had the HG leak there it was always under boost. A pressure tester never did find it. Id completely was and dry under the hood then take it for a spin running a couple a high boost stints. then check around the left rear of the head.

 

[Guest]

I have had this problem with a few of my cars too. Wallace is right,it only really leaks coolant when you arent being very nice to it. I can almost put money on it leaking around the back corner of the head. Like Jeff said there is an oil galley hole in the deck side of the head right next to the corner headbolt with a little frost plug in it from the factory. That is so close to the headbolt and the corner of the headgasket it has plauged TIIIs for years. Chrysler always had problems with this thing eating warranty HG jobs because they would always leak there even after an HG job. If/when you pull the head you will see what we are talking about and say "duh good place for a hole and a recessed plug in it" Welding it shut or tapping it and screwing aluminum threaded rod before you machine the head is the way to fix it for good. But if you weld it remember to only weld about a 1/4" into it so you dont block the exhaust rocker shaft oil feed line with weld. Good luck:thumb:

 

[LowSL2]

This is what everyone is talking about.

This is the cause of most of our TIII problems.

Does anyone have a pic of the fix for this?

 

[Guest]

Yes Jeff thats the one. The easiest fix it to just weld it up and them get it re-surfaced. All my welded ones are on cars so cant really get a pic

 

[LowSL2]

Found a pic on Cliff Ramsdell's website.

 

[lotharamc]

+1 for me on that location. I didn't see/hear about it until after I "fixed" the leak though. I may end up doing it again here pretty soon.

Anyway, another possible spot to check is the 90 deg spout on the bottom of the thermostate housing. Steel pipe in an Aluminum housing. You should have seen that with the dye in the coolant.

 

[navyboy65]

Thanks all for the input. I am pretty sure from what you are all sayins that I have a leaky head gasket!!! Well its been a while since I have had to do anything to the car so I guess I was over due! As to repairing this problem what head gasket do you guys suggest???? I plan on getting head studs. I don't think I'll have a problem finding a place to resurface the head but what do I do about the block?? I don't really need to rebuild the engine, as its been fine other than this leak, and I don't want to have to pull the engine to get the deck resurfaced. So is it possible to get somone to come to the car and resurface the deck?????
I also have a question about the TIII Turbos. My turbo is original and has 85 or 87Kmiles how long on average do they last or should I do a rebuild and get new hoses while doing the head gasket????
Thanks again for the help!
Oh and I will have that little plug wleded up too!

 

[2.216vturbo]

I suggest if you are having it welded, like jackson said, make SURE your welder knows that passage needs to stay open beneath the plug . Maybe inserting a steel rod (from the side with the allen plug removed) that the aluminum weld wont ahere to or something of that sort. If you are gonna always run a cometic, it's kinda a moot point to even do the welding, they wont collapse into the plug like a stock HG does over time.


Alan

 

[navyboy65]

Hey I haven't pulled the head yet but I've been checking into parts and where to take my head. A local guy who always does great work said he would do my TIII head for $600! That would be porting, valve job, cleaning, checking it out, resurfacing, al the norm stuff! Is that a good deal. I assume that valve seals, and getting that oil plug welded(he would organize that for me too) would be extra!!!!

 

[2.216vturbo]

That sounds like a smoking hot deal if he is porting the head too!:thumb: Have you seen any of his work before? Just the welding/cleaning/checking/decking could run you $600. at some shops. Does he know about the core plugs or are you gonna leave the steel ones in there? You have some increased height Ti retainers right?

Alan

 

[navyboy65]

That sounds like a smoking hot deal if he is porting the head too!:thumb: Have you seen any of his work before? Just the welding/cleaning/checking/decking could run you $600. at some shops. Does he know about the core plugs or are you gonna leave the steel ones in there? You have some increased height Ti retainers right?

Alan

He didn't know about the plugs but I was just going to leave them as they are! I don't have any cracks and from what I have read here, if it hasn't cracked by know(80+K miles) it probly won't?
I haven't gotten the Ti retainers yet. I know I should get them but @ $250+ I figuar I could add them later myself! I'm trying to keep to my budget. I still have to buy the head gasket, head studs, valve seals some misc gaskets, probly a stainless steel turbo hose kit, and got to get the intake and exhaust ported! Oh and valve seals(which are like $8each???)
I have seen his work once before, he did a head for my bro's car! No porting but he is a long time racer car enthus so I have not doubt he know what he's doing! + He's done a bunch of work for my step dad, again nothing really performance but best bang for your buck in my area!
I'll probly pull the head in about 2-3 weeks and get things moving!

 

[daytonaed]

There's a saying for the older Porsche's "if it doesn't leak oil it's probably out of it". For our RTs the saying should be "if it doesn't leak coolant it's probably out of it".

Ed C.