Whats above the oil pan?

[yaqngie]

Just wondering if anyone can tell me what is about the oil pan on the left side of the car. When looking under the car and up at it, you have the oil pan that sites there and then the next part right about it that laps over near towards the rear of the car. My car is a V6 if that helps.

Reason I am asking is that over the past month or more I have had a small leak with my antifreeze. Took it by a couple of places and they said they could not find out what the problem was. They tried the pressure test and did not see any leaks in the hoses or seals. Both places told me it would be in the price of 400 bucks even to get down and dirty with it to try and trace the leak just due to the way the engine is set up.

The thing is sometimes I have to top the antifreeze off every couple days and then it goes a week or more before it tries to run hot again. There is no consistency to it.

I just do not know what to do, not a car guy and I can do this and that but the way things are now I can not afford to spend and arm and a leg on it. Got a guy that works on cars but he only takes cash and anywhere else will charge me 2 or 3 times the price but then I can charge it. Plus the 99 is getting to almost 200k for mileage and I can not justify spending too much on it to get it fixed. Plan on buying a truck from my dad when I get the cash saved up so that is another thing I can not justify dumping too much on the galant when thats a payment for the truck. So lost right now. With the age on the car and the mileage I could get this fixed and then something else goes wrong and I just keep dumping money. Okay sorry for my vent. Hope someone can help me.

[M-Rod]

Try and get a picture. Your description is a little confusing.

[Stewi]

Try and get a picture. Your description is a little confusing.

+1

get us a pic and we can work wonders.

[Poison457]

[edit] nm saw v6 have yet to look at a v6 engine

[njjfudge]

Maybe the water pump............ The belts are on the left side of the bay

[yaqngie]

Pictures are being emailed to myself right now. Please bear with me as these were taken with my phone camera and due to where this is there is not a lot of wiggle room. I have above and below pictures I think. The above ones are going to be hard to see anything due to the belts and the below is semi blocked due to the oil pan.

[yaqngie]

Maybe the water pump............ The belts are on the left side of the bay

Thinking and hoping it is something as simple as the water pump but you never know. I can see where it is dripping but not where the leak is actually coming from.

[yaqngie]

Well my crackberry is being super slow on sending the photos to my email account on the computer so I am still waiting on that. I will check back shortly and post them.

[yaqngie]

[yaqngie]

Another below shot and 2 above shots. And yes the engine is dirty.

[M-Rod]

It's hard to tell exactly, but I would check the seal on the power steering pump. Depending on the mileage and last timing belt change it wouldn't be a bad idea to set aside an afternoon to replace the water pump and timing belt.

[Stewi]

Ok so I guess you have a 7g galant and not an 8g, this is in the wrong section. I was confused for a minute because everything looked backwards, turns out, it is.

[Reelax]

wait this is a 7G v6 in the US?

[M-Rod]

Looks like a proper US 8G V6 to me... The angles are just very awkward.

[Stewi]

wait this is a 7G v6 in the US?

Nevermind, its an 8g, I missed the part where he said V6. Looking at the pics the way the p/s hoses are it looks like a 7g.

[Reelax]

i just trusted your eye bcuz i couldn't make anything out from those pics.

[RedGalant2k1]

Do you actually have coolant leaking on the ground?

Or is it being reduced from the coolant reservoir?

[yaqngie]

Sorry about the pictures guys. But that was the best I could do. In the second picture you can actually see the where the coolant is gathering to drip.


I can fill the radiator up and it starts pouring from this area.

[RedGalant2k1]

Do you see or have any greenish crusty build up?

[jusunknown]

I just checked in my manual, and the only thing I see in that area related to coolant is the water pump. Water pump is located inside the timing belt cover, if there is a leak it will leak from the bottom of the timing belt cover. Manual recommends, removing the cover to verify leak. Basically, remove the timing belt cover, if you find coolant, then your waterpump is the issue.

If that is the issue, you have a little bit of work on your hands. Since the water pump is powered by the timing belt, you will have to remove the alternator bracket and timing belt in order to remove the water pump. You may not have to replace the pump, if its working then keep it and get a new seal.