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Old 09-29-2016, 01:13 PM   #6
Mr_Rich
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Santa Maria, Calif.
Posts: 781
Re: Bad coolant leak: Pooling on top of engine

What you might be able to do is replace the bolts holding the intake manifold down to the heads at the coolant passage area. The bolts tend to deteriorate/ rust allowing the leaks. You don't really need the lifting bracket since that is a factory piece they use to install the engine. Use at least a Grade 8 bolt that is 3/8" coarse thread 1 1/4" long. The next option would be to replace the intake gasket. The tricky thing about replacing the intake gasket is to make sure all the coolant is sucked out of the reservoir at the bottom of the intake manifold so when you remove it you don't dump a pint of coolant inside your engine. BTDT.
These are the bolts I'm talking about:

I'm using stainless bolts myself to help avoid these types of problems. Over three years ago I installed this engine after storing it in my garage for over nineteen years. I replaced all the gaskets before I installed it and I've got over 50K miles since.
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