Coolant issue on Chevy Impala

[Ty]

For a 2001 Chevy Impala with 225,000 miles

For the past several months my car has had a coolant leak of some kind. It got bad enough that is overheated and started making a hissing noise. I later found out that there was a leak by the water pump and I replaced the water pump and the car has not overheated since.

The water pump still hasn’t fixed the coolant leak. It hasn’t overheated in over a month but I fill the reservoir full and after a couple days it is all depleted. You can not see any coolant leaking from under the hood at all. All the hoses, radiator, reservoir, water pump is dry and fluid free. You can see drops of water coming from under the car but its farther back like under the passenger floorboard/glove compartment area. There is no water in the oil.

So what may be causing the problem? I have a feeling it is a bad heater core, but I am not sure. Has anyone else had similar experiences with this problem? Any good links to replacing the heater core? I tried taking off the panel under the glove box to look around but I did not find anything that looked like a heater core.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Topic

[Gumpy Guss]

If it’s leaking through the heater core you will be getting that warm sweetish smell when you turn on the heat and the windows will get this sticky foggy goop on them. There is a heater core in there somewhere, you can start by seeing where the heater hoses go through the firewall and follow the hoses from there.

[Ty]

Well there isn’t really a strong smell of coolant in the car and the windshield doesn’t get really foggy. The car does take longer than normal to get warm, though.

[Gumpy Guss]

Okay, so it’s not leaking in the heater core. that’s good. But it’s leaking somewhere else. Likely from the heater hoses or ay their clamps. You will need a flashlight and maybe some coolant system dye to find the exact spot of the leak. Better do this before it gets much colder.

[Bill]

You didn’t say what engine is in the car but both the 3.4 and 3.8 were bad for intake manifold gasket leaks. The heat of the engine evaporates the leaking coolant so you don’t always see a leak but the coolant usually leaves staining to give you a clue there is a leak there.

Is it water you see dripping or is it coolant? Might just be condensate from the A/C.

A weak coolant cap might puke coolant out while driving and not when stopped.

[Travis Wright]

+1 with what wysetech said. I own a 2002 impala with the 3.4 litre and dealt with the faulty lower intake gasket issue. Try doing a pressure test,that’s how i located mine.

[Author]

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