Last few morings I found 4-5 inches diameter coolant puddle on ground, right below the exhaust manifold down pipe (where it begin to straight out to meet the catalytic converter). Looking from the engine bay down, where the double barrel shape exhaust pipe (before it changes into one single round pipe), there were stain marks on the side closer to the passenger side fender only. On the corner of engine, closest to the firewall, before #1? spark plug, on the exhaust manifold side theree were thin coat of coolant? around where the head? meet the orange block. Several days, I look at the area right after I drove home from work etc. and it was dry. I have checked it in half hour interval and did caught it dripping once. I looked down from the engine bay but cannot see the trail. I have a known water pump leak but I can trace that leak and it did not go that far back onto the exhaust location.



My questions are:

1) coolant sipping out from the line between block and head, BAD?? Is it mean a gasket job?? How much will it cost??

2) Looking at the location of the stain mark, if the coolant dripped down from the block, it should not be able to reach that far out on the pipe. So, where are the coolant from?

3) The water pump is leaking, but the coolant should not go to the top side of the exhaust pipe, right?

I have to top off the reservior once every 4 to 5 days but not that much either. My main concern is the sipping of coolant from engine block and where the puddle comes from.

Thanks in advance for all suggestions.

1991 244 DL 195K miles.

 

Well, no real way we can tell you where it is coming from exactly. You're looking at it and can't tell. Where coolant lands on the ground is not always a good indicator of where it comes from. Coolant can drip and run down all sorts of things and land on the ground some distance from the actual leak. It does sound as if you have a head gasket leak. But...it could also be a freeze plug or heater hose. Replacing the head gasket is a 4 hour job.