Leak in bad place, what to do?

[jmark06]

I just rebuilt my turbo motor to put and put it in my 77 280z. It had a coolant leak and I discovered it was from the water pump so I replaced it and no leak there now. But the bad news is that it is leaking coolant from the bellhousing right at the engine. It's definatly coolant and not gear oil. I'm affraid it might be the big freeze plug in the back of the engine covered by the clutch. I messed up the first one putting it in so I had to buy a new one that didn't seem to fit as snug when I installed it. Does this sound like it could be the problem and is there anything to do to fix it besides pulling the engine completely?

[RedNeckZ]

Yes, it does sound like it is the problem. Did you try to seal it with a two part epoxy? I put all of mine in with the epoxy and didn't have any leaks. Sounds like you will have to take it apart and fix it. Good Luck, Rich.

[burntz]

What about using that "barsleak" stuff?

[jmark06]

Ya I thought about something like that that you run through the engine for like a half hour and it fills all the leaks. Has anyone done this and how does it affect the engine? I hate to do it cause I just rebuilt and everything is so clean inside, but I don't want to pull the engine out either. How detrimental is that stuff?

[zeiss150]

isn't barsleak just a temporary fix? I wouldn't put that $hit in my new engine. I would pull the tranny pull the clutch flywheel assembly and try to put the plug in with the engine still in the car. But it you have a cherry picker it would probably be faster to pull the engine. Thoes engines com out in about a half an hour. good luck

[burntz]

Ya I thought about something like that that you run through the engine for like a half hour and it fills all the leaks. Has anyone done this and how does it affect the engine? I hate to do it cause I just rebuilt and everything is so clean inside, but I don't want to pull the engine out either. How detrimental is that stuff?

Yea, I'd hate to use that crap on a new clean engine. You figure the rest of that stuff will settle somewhere. You could use it then after a couple of days flush your coolant to get the rest out.

[72zcar]

Check the freeze plug in back of the head before you take it apart. Could be leaking out the back of the head down to the bell. If it is the one in back of clutch that really sucks but do it right don't use the stopleak.

[kcelectronics]

As stated above this should only be used in an emergency, and it can block the tubes in the radiator. Pull the engine out and fix the problem it won’t take you that long and you will be able to sleep nights

If it is the big freeze plug the gunk may not seal it anyway, and you would end up pulling the engine to repair it. “Do it once and do it rightâ€

All I use on the freeze plugs is the brush on gasket cement, and I have never had one leak, I also use brass not steel for extra piece of mind as they won’t rust out.

So do yourself a favor and do it properly, as you will always be thinking about all that gunk inside your new engine.

[jmark06]

Ok that's what I figured, oh well, it's always something. I already checked the freeze plug in the head and unfortunatly that's not it. It's a 52mm plug right? Somebody correct me if I'm wrong here.