monte's spilling coolant

[loki]

so with 190K+ Monte's leaking coolant.

the pump is about 10 years old with 60K+ miles.

seems to only leak after it's warmed up some (pressure in the block?

maybe loosing a quart over a week and 150 miles driven, 50 of that is very off and on.

the leak is on the front of the engine... where the drips come from,

been leaking slowly since late dec.

prolly need to check it after 30 mins (after being driven) or so to see if there is an obvious stream.

given this, do you think the culprit could be the water pump?

what would you recommend i look for?

also taking suggestions for cars to replace it with. ... what i'd look for, similar or better gas milage, either a radio that can be esily replaced, or one with bluetooth installed. decent space for clothes and bags in the back seat for a few days on a trip.sometimes i use my monte's truck to transport my bike, but that could be solved with a bike rack.

[Drew Dowdell]

let it get up to temp, then get a flashlight and search around for wet spots around the accessory drive belt.

[SAmadei]

Drew hit it on the head... I'm assuming when you refer to "front" of engine, you mean the passenger side where the belts are... as coolant leaks from the side of the engine ("front" of car) will tend to be either radiator, hoses or a head gasket (could be intake, but the heads will force these leaks to move either to the front (pass side) or rear (driver side) of the engine. I imagine the ECT is also on the side of the 3.1.

I certainly wouldn't use a coolant leak as a reason to buy a new car, as GM has nothing that effectively replaces the Monte.

[G. David Felt]

Time to drop in a nice Crate motor.