Pretty bad coolant leak...

[Drageon]

OK guys firstly I have a 91 XLT.. I just got done getting bent over at a local car shop (knew better than to go there) but I *personally* didn't flip the bill. Anyway, originally it went in for rear brakes + a pretty bad coolant leak up front. When I looked at the leak it looked to be coming from the bottom heater under the truck (you cant see the leak from the top). Also, when i dropped it off it wasnt leaking. After getting the truck back I see they got me for a $89 (!!!) Intake gasket with 6 HOURS OF LABOR. After driving a little yesterday I noticed a little bit of coolant residue on the top heater hose that connects at the top of the water pump (im taking a guess thats connecting into the water pump). After warming my truck up this morning with the heater on to warm up the truck a little bit, and getting across town to my class, I noticed steam coming from the engine, looked at the engine, and low and behold.. coolant all on the engine. I can probably get the truck home to look at it further. I'm GUESSING its the heater control valve but from what i've read 91's didnt have one, but everyone else who seems to have had my leak has had that problem.. so the real question is what else could it be? btw, I did feel heat from the vents even with the heater and a/c off.. and the temp guage tends to flux. Sorry for the long post.. didn't want to leave out the back story.

 

[Drageon]

found the leak, was a hole in one of the heater hoses, time to complain to the auto shop.

 

[mrboyle]

Just FYI, it isn't uncommon for this to happen. The heater hoses have been on your X for who knows how long and have deteroiated over that time. They also have sat in the exact same position through 100's of heat cycles, which causes them to harden into a single position. Now after all this time someone does some work on the truck that requiors (sp?) moving the hoses. Nine times out of ten nothing will happen, but there's always that chance that the hose will fracture and break within a few days. Few shops will recomend replacing the hoses (unless they are visibly bad) because most customers will complain that the shop is trying to rip them off. Not replacing them is a risk most of us take in order to keep the customer happy.

 

[Drageon]

well the thing is is it was noticable.. you could see a small white string and what looked to be a small slit up near where the hose joins the engine.. my guess is whomever put the hose back on nicked the hose and didnt notice it.. Im not as angry as I was when i saw the leak, because they actually ended up fixing something else in the process (Intake gasket really needing replacing, it was a cause to a check engine light after 60+ miles of hwy driving.. found this out after driving the truck a while). I ended up not even saying a thing and just replacing the hose myself.. I had some spare anyway and it only took about 5 minutes to replace.