Coolant Leak from engine or???

[Axerob]

Hello everyone!

 

The other day, i went and looked at a 2000 GTP with 130k miles on it. Underbody on the car was clean(except for one spot on the rocker) and it ran great. However, i'm skeptical about purchasing it due to a coolant leak and i'm not 100% sure of where it could be coming from.

 

I noticed the coolant on the oil pan, it looked like it was dripping out from the back of the engine. Here are the things i took note of while inspecting the car, and i was hoping some of you can help pinpoint the issue.

 

1: There was an oil burning smell coming from the engine bay and when i pulled the dipstick there was white smoke coming out. I assume this is the PCV valve and that is thankfully an easy fix. I know there's a recall for a gasket as well.

 

2: There was no coolant in the oil, so i -think- i can rule out the head gaskets.

 

3: The low coolant light was on before i even started the test drive, and i had them put some in. I took about a 12-15 mile test drive and the coolant level didn't seem to drop by a noticeable amount, so it's a slow leak.

 

So i'm thinking it could be one of the following things

 

1: Water Pump

2: Coolant bottle has a small hole. hose, etc

3: Lower intake gasket

4: Head gasket(hopefully not)

5: A wild guess here, but one of those plastic elbows went bad. The upper went bad on my 02 Bonneville, and i know that's common for them.

 

Any suggestions?

[LuminaPower92]

As far as the water pump, is there a wet looking stain on the hood from the belt area? Also does it look damp around the pump?

[Andrew]

I would think its the lower gaskets causing the white smoke and likely the elbows leaking. There are virtually no HG failures on stock motors. Any white smoke out the tail pipe?

 

If the price is right i would grab it. Get the metal gaskets and metal elbows.

[Imp558]

X2 on the elbow, That's a really common one.