Found a coolant leak Friday night while cleaning up my engine compartment for the weekend's shows. The upper radiator hose was leaking at the surge tank because the clamp was installed too close to the end of the hose and not up against the raised part of the surge tank tube. Unfortunately this leak was not "the" leak as after cleaning everything off and driving to the show on Saturday coolant was still dripping off the bottom of the bell housing.

After the show on Saturday, I let things cool down some and then put the front up on ramps. Cleaned everything off. I pulled the bell housing inspection cover and used a screw driver to gently pry open the space between the plate that mounts between the bell housing and back of the block. I could not see any evidence of a leak.

Then I put the inspection cover back on and ran the engine up to operating temperature (about 195 degrees) while laying under the car. I let it run for 20 minutes at 1000 rpm and it didn't leak a drop! After driving to Sunday's show there were several drops of coolant on the bottom of the bell housing.

I give up. I dropped the Gal off at my mechanic's this morning to let him search for the leak. I am beginning to think that it is leaking on initial startup and then stopping (or at least slowing down) once everything warms up to normal temp. I will post what he (hopefully) finds when I get the car back later this week.

 

could be a leaking head gasket and then with it running it is drawing in the small amount of coolant and sending it out the tailpipe

 

Coolant in the exhaust would show up as white smoke. There is no smoke, coolant in the oil, or any other evidence that I can see that it would be an internal leak vs an external leak.

 

but if only a drop or two hit the cylinder you won't ever notice white smoke

 

The coolant level in my add on overflow tank drops by half (from the cold/full level) in a weekend of driving. That much in the exhaust would be noticable in my opinion, especially on start up. In any case, the external leak is fairly significant.