The other day i noticed a pool of fluid under my car ('91 245). At first because of the location of the pool i thought it might be some oil from the oil filter but after examining it i determined that it is coolant. I followed the trail of coolant up the block to what appears to be a steel stud coming out of the head on the exhaust side. It looks like a bolt was once there, but it is not anymore. I was afraid of having a blown head gasket but the leak is above the head gasket.
I can clearly see fluid coming from this stud, it looks like some sort of gasket is in there and it has failed.

The coolant reservoir is still at operational capacity. I drove the car to my mothers (about a 100 mile round trip) this weekend and had no issues. When the car is running nothing leaks the engine warms up and evidence of the leak evaporates. It is only after the car had been off for a while that i notice the coolant. I have never over heated the engine nor have i had any coolant issues, while the car has been in my possession.

I do not have pictures right now, but will take some tonight and upload them tomorrow. to show what stud i am talking about.

The stud is located on the head, if my memory serves me right, it is between cylinder 2 and 3, just behind the exhaust manifold.

i am asking for advice on fixing this issue. I am not familiar with what this stud it for. This is the first fluid leak i have had with the car. Do i simply find a bolt for the stud tighten it down and hope for the best?
Is there some sort of service that is recommended?
Is this a sign of some underlying issue?

Any advice is most appreciated.

 

here is a photo or a marine engine the red circle is where the stud is at. In this pic it is blocked off.

 

That's not a stud that is a freeze plug.

 

brickrunner i understand that it is a freeze plug in the photo. the photo is of a marine engine and it is not my engine. On my engine (which i will photograph tonight, and post a photo of tomorrow) there is a stud where the freeze plug is. That image is the only photo i can find online for a point of reference. I apologize if i did not clarify that from the beginning.

 

On my car as well as all of the other ones that I remember seeing the holes on the exhaust side are freeze plugs and the holes on the fuel injection manifold side are threaded and temperature sensors screw on there. One sensor is for the instrument temp gauge and the other is the ICU thermostat. Like you mentioned post a picture, that always helps.

 

Yeah after finding the marine engine photo i think i answered my own question. Seems like somewhere in its history someone plugged the freeze plug with the stud. It has a rubber plug around it, that has some play (i didn't want to pull it too much). I am not familiar with this style plug stud thing.

I guess i will drain the fluid, remove the exhaust manifold, remove the stud and plug, and reset a proper freeze plug.

I just want to make sure that this is not factory, before i do all this.

Sorry for the quality of the pic, not a lot of room there to get my dslr( its the only camera i have) in there.