Coolant leak by intake manifold

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davefrancisco
Posts: 49
Joined: Wed May 12, 2021 1:22 pm
Your car is a: 1977 Fiat 124 Spider

Coolant leak by intake manifold

Post by davefrancisco »

I'm noticing what seems to be coolant seeping from the intake side of cylinder #1. It's green, so that should be coolant. By the looks of it it seems to be coming from where the intake manifold meets the head. It's not a serious leak yet, and I don't have coolant in the oil, or oil in the coolant. So thinking (hoping) there is a coolant journal behind the intake manifold and a new manifold gasket would solve the issue.

Thanks

Dave
18Fiatsandcounting
Posts: 3798
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Re: Coolant leak by intake manifold

Post by 18Fiatsandcounting »

Dave, yep, green would be coolant. There is a coolant passage through the intake manifold, so chances are it's just an intake manifold gasket that's gone bad, and nothing more serious. Once you get the manifold off and clean the mating surfaces on it and the head, use a straightedge or the like to make sure nothing's warped. Unlikely, but it can happen.

But before you pull off the manifold, check to make sure all 6 bolts/studs/nuts are torqued correctly as occasionally a leakage problem can be "solved" with a re-torqueing. 18 ft lbs is what I recall, and you don't want to go any tighter than the spec as the threads in the aluminum head can strip fairly easily. If it were me, I'd replace the gasket, but you might be able to get by with retorqueing any loose bolts/studs.

-Bryan
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