RE: 4KcsQ leaking coolant (2nd try)

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

>   That is 
> until I got off the highway for the last mile stretch to the 
> office - Ahh, 
> the sweet smell of antifreeze wafting off of an exhaust 
> manifold in the 
> morning!  The problem is I'm not a mechanic (not even close) but my 
> financial situation is requiring I become one... quick!  The 
> other problem 
> is some ingenious German engineer decided to weld the battery 
> shelf to the 
> engine compartment so I can't see exactly where the leak has 
> sprung.  Can 
> someone shed some light on what is under that battery that 
> might be leaking 
> (please say it is just a hose) and offer any suggestions on 
> getting to it.  

I had a hard to find leak on my 4kSQ a while back.  Every once in a while
I'd get enough of a leak on the exhaust manifold that steam would come out
from the edge of the hood.  By the time you'd open it up to check it would
be gone.  I finally caught it one day ... it was a pinhole sized leak in the
hose that goes from the back of the engine to the heater core.  All in all
it was a complete PITA to fix because you basically need to disassemble the
interior of the car to get at the heater core to replace the hose (I did
decide to replace the heater core while I was there).  The other thing that
made it frustrating was that the fitting on the back of the engine was so
badly marred from heat and rust that it was almost impossibile to fit the
hose far enough down the fitting to clamp it down.  

Given your observation that the coolant appears to be hitting the exhaust
manifold directly, this would be my first suspect ... but there are a couple
other coolant hoses back there as well for the heater.  

> This is a duel purpose question since it is my understanding 
> that the center 
> diff lock in the same area on this year and model and it wont 
> lock.  I'm 
> assuming it has frozen up and just needs some lube.

... this could very well be true as the rod that actuates the center diff
lock uses a metal rod that has to pass through a fairly small hole.  If you
didn't use the diff lock and some corrosion formed on the rod I could
definitely imagine it would get locked in place.  It is also possible that
the actuating motor has failed and is leaking or simply that a vacuum line
has come off.  As you suspect the vacuum motor is mounted on the
transmission casing on the exhaust side of the engine (i.e. below the
battery mounting plate).  I would say that your best bet for seeing the
vacuum motor would be by removing the right front wheel and looking through
the hole between the body and the subframe that the half shaft passes
through.  If you want to see if the rod is stuck you should be able to
simply jack up the right front corner of the car and look for the rod ... it
does go all the way to the very back end of the transaxle.  Try moving it
back and forth a little to see if it appears to be frozen.  Don't assume its
frozen if it is just hard to move ... I've found those vacuum motors can
hold the rod in place quite strongly.  

HTH!
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)