I need some help. I have an antifreeze leak in my 3.0 sohc mitsu motor, first it appeared to be leaking from the water pump. Put a new one on, and now it is leaking down what appears to be the middle from somewhere near the front motor mount, off of the exhaust from the front of the car. Any help is apprieciated. Thanks

 

umm, it sounds as if it is leaking from the head gasket...there is not much on the front of the motor that will leak antifreeze except maybe a leak in a hose. Pull your dipstick, see if the oil is "frothy" looking....that will let you know for sure if it is a head gasket.

 

Thanks, I think the motor may have frozen and cracked. Or it may be the head gasket. Thanks again. Would a compression test be able to tell if the head gasket is bad?

 

That depends upon where the crack is. If you oil is frothy, you can almost bet you'll find a cyl. with poor compression...if you are just losing coolant, you won't always get poor compression. What temp does your antifreeze test to? You can buy a tester most autoparts stores. Doubtful you cracked the block...unless you're running water for antifreeze.

Start the car and watch to see if you can see wear it is coming from. Note any hoses in the area or paths the coolant can traverse to see if perhaps it is coming from elsewhere. Good luck.

 

Here is the full story. Got the car, some rust, but really cheap. I was told it had a bad radiator, which it did. I replaced the radiator and what drained out looked like mucky water, more water than antifreeze, and not a whole lot of it. I live in wisconsin so it gets cold, and it must have seen some sub zero weather. It looked as though the water pump was leaking, so took it out. It looked as though it was not sealing going into the pipe that goes across the valley. Got that all buttoned up and now it is leaking off of the exhaust on the front side of the car. It may have been run with low or little coolant. But the leak appears to be coming from behind the motormount. I will do a compression test on the cylinders and the radiator to see what happens. Maybe a freeze plug, a crack or a hose. But right now it does not look good. I really don't like some of the designs of the 3.0 l motor. But thanks for all the advice. This is a great forum and you all are really helpful. Thanks

 

Oh, the oil didn't look frothy, but I will have to check it again, maybe drain it and take a better look.