I have a 1998 3.8L 3800 V6, i bought it back in 2004 when it had 95,000 on it, it ran fairly well but i did have to replace the cats and a minor suspension repair. Long story short i got in lots of trouble with it i only put 8,000 miles on it and decided to garage it back in 2006 when my then girlfriend bought me a 2006 H3. The beautiful gold demon sat in the dark, never to see the light of day again.

Fast forward 4 years, i broke up with my girlfriend and she told me she wants the H3 back once she has paid it off so she can sell it. So i decide to bring the gold demon back to life and rehab it so i can enjoy it for a little bit before selling it later this summer.

The pads and rotors were complete rust and serpentine belt had rust on it but it started up just fine after a jump start. I had my mechanic replace pads and rotors, new serpentine belt and oil change. It ran great......... for 450miles. Now i would say that i am not terribly hard on the car, but i do get up to posted speed limit +5mph fairly quickly. The car has always had a tiny oil leak, but last Sat morning i noticed a large puddle of what looked like unburned oil on my garage floor....... i would later find out this was aged Dexcool.......

I ran a few errands on Sat, when i left the book store again i noticed a large puddle in my parking spot but it was evaporated down, i figured it might be water because i had run my A/C for a bit. I ran a few more errands and car was fine, no over heating or anything. Later that night i went out to get food for my lady friend and i, and while i was in idle the car started to make a squealing sound REALLY loud... i was like WTF? The oil and temp gauges were still fine so i decided to drive it back home, it was only like 1 mile away on a straight shot so i figured no biggie.

The whining sound continued but not as loud, and the temp started to rise, i drove very conservatively on the way home (no hard accel) by time i got home the temp was almost at red line but not quite. While i was in my driveway the power steering went out. I popped the hood and no smoke came out but i could smell burning coolant. I let it cool overnight, plus i didnt have any light and couldnt see under the hood as it was dark.

The next morning i popped the hood and saw the new serpentine belt was snapped, i checked the coolant and it was very low. I added 50/50 Dexcool and water to both the reservoir and the radiator itself. I noticed that small flecks of liquid were shooting up from near where the big main pulley spins the serpentine belt, so i figured i had a coolant leak.

I take it to my mechanic, he calls me and says that the water pump is shot and that is why coolant was spraying out and it caused the serpentine belt to slip off the pulleys and it ended up wrapped on the A/C compressor causing it to melt/snap says it is $440 for water pump, charge and flush on radiator (there was gooey brown Dexcool everywhere on the cap and in the reservoir), and new serpentine belt.

Then he calls me back again and asks if the Camaro had been running hot for a while, i told him no, it only ran hot for 1 mile on the way home and it never got to the red line and never smoked. He says that they are getting air pockets in the coolant system after all work has been completed and that could indicate a cracked head gasket. They dont even do engine work and they are the most trusted mechanic in my city so i dont think they are trying to screw me over or anything, but that was at 8:45AM this morning and its almost 1:30PM and i still havent heard back from them....... i am starting to get worried.

I know my post is REALLY long but i wanted to include as much info as possible to see if anyone here could help me out with their opinions/advice. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

 

Oh one other i wanted to add is that i DROVE it to the mechanic on Wed night (with no power steering ) and i had no coolant puddle in my garage and it did NOT overheat on the way to the mechanic, again short 5min drive only about 1 mile away no hard accelerating.

 

thats one crazy story lol and an H3....over the gold demon!!?? c'mon!!! lol all jokes aside, was there any white or colored smoke coming from the exaust or anything like that? i thought i had a blown gasket at one point, but it was something else. Idk man thats a weird situation. Hope you find your answer and good luck! (and driving without power steering is effing rediculous. lol kudos to you for doing such a thing)

 

I didnt notice any white smoke, and it didnt make the whining sound when i drove it to the mechanic so i assume the snapped belt caused the sound. Yeah driving without power steering (my first time ever) even for a short distance was definitely "interesting"..... not something i want to do again.

Anyway GOOD news my mechanic called at 8:30 this morning and said that the Camaro is ready to go, and they were able to get all air pockets out after a 3rd reflush the car has over 103,000 and is 12 years old and i bet a radiator flush has never been done on it. I have got to get rid of this thing, it has caused me waaaaay too many problems over the years, although most of those were of my own making

I am going to get rid of it ASAP, i have a guy at work who wants to get a car this summer for his son who just graduated. I was originally going to ask $3,500 (which he agreed is fair) but since i just put another $440 in it i am gonna ask for $3,750 which i think is very fair for a gold 1998 3.8L 3800, 103k miles, chrome factory wheels, 4 new Bridgestone Indy 500 Firehawks with less than 2,000 miles on them, brand new pads and rotors all the way around, and a new serpentine belt, water pump, and radiator flush just done yesterday. It also has a very nice Kenwood deck that was like $350 when i bought it back in 2005. I was going to put it on ebay/autotrader for $4250, but i want to help my union brother out if i can by giving him a good deal.

Oh btw Vince thanks for your reply, and i plan on getting another H3 when i sell the demon, hopefully a 07-08 H3X..... i have seen some AMAZING prices on autotrader. I saw a 2007 H3X with 14,000 miles on it from a private seller about 350 miles from me for $15,000 flat ; that was like a $45k car 2 years ago..... I live in Illinois, and Camaro's just dont cut it in the winter time. I eventually want to get a new V8 the new retro body style is pretty sick, but i wont be ready to do that until 2012 probably.... oh well one can always dream of a slate gray SS with black cowl and stripes

 

BAH i picked up the gold demon yesterday..... and i am still noticing wet spots in my parking spaces.

I dabbed up some of the stuff in my driveway and it looks like water/dexcool. I checked my reservoir level and it is still good, its not running hot at all. There is no white smoke or drips coming out of the tail pipe, but i am worried. I have not run the A/C at all so there should not be any "water" dripping onto the ground, am i right about that?

The leak is coming from the front of the car, down by the front of the engine near the big main pulley that spins the serpentine belt.... i am guessing this is where the water pump is located?

I am freaking out guys, can you give me some ideas? I have to take it back to the shop again on Monday. Brand new water pump, and flush done, mechanic says its ready to go, and its dripping the first time i park it...... not a good sign

 

lol NP man, yeah now i understand, i didnt catch you were in Illinois, im from ohio, i know what your talkin about lol

sucks about the car leak, im not entirely sure what TAHT could be. I have a few oil leaks in my car, some which are fixable, some are just random leaks. Maybe take the car to a different shop, cause if iat starts leakking the first time you park it, taht shold be a clue. and with 440 down the drain like that, it should be an option.

But tahts just my 10 cents. Anyhoo, let me know how things go brother.

 

$440 wasnt really down the drain, all the work that was done needed to be done..... it just didnt fix the coolant leak

Based on all of the research i have done i am starting to suspect that i DO NOT have a blown gasket. There is no white smoke coming from my tail pipe, and there is no coolant/water in my oil, and the engine runs very well, SES light is NOT coming on. The water temp is very normal it goes no higher than about 200F when stopped and stays around 180-190F when moving which is completely normal, but the coolant does leak out at a fairly alarming rate. The reservoir runs out in about 3 days if i fill it a little higher than "cold full" at which point the car stalls out..... i refill it, and it works fine.

The coolant is dripping from the front of the engine, and based on a thread i found at another forum, the likely source of the leak is a black plastic elbow piece sometimes called a "bypass hose" that is located just above the timing chain cover. Supposedly it is just a $5 piece but is pretty hard to get to, a mechanic shop will supposedly charge 2-3hrs of labor to get to it. I have had to work late this week and i havent been able to start calling around. I dont want to take it to my normal mechanic because they are more of a general repair shop that does tires/brakes/standard maintenance, and werent able to determine the source of the leak the first time so my faith is a bit shaken in them. I want to take it to a shop that does engine work but wont try to force me to run a bunch of $100 diagnostic tests just to tell me the bypass hose is leaking, then charge me 4 hours to repair it......

I will post back once i know the full final costs and the verified source of the leak.

 

that car is screwed man, you have to maintain your car, your're suppose to flush the coolant system atleast every 5 years, if you let it go 12 years like that it's all going to corrode inside the system and leak everywhere, that's why you waterpump was shot, and well the whole inside of your radiator is shot just like the pump was. and all the seals are corroded too, not to mention if you left it in the cold it could have frozen the coollant and busted all the freeze plugs in the block or something else.

 

The car is not screwed, and i have maintained the car, it runs very well for its age. The radiator works fine the car is running at 180-200F which is normal temps, the leak is not coming from the radiator it has a coolant leak in a plastic hose calm down.

It was stored in a heated garage. Dexcool is rated to last 10 years, i overlooked the coolant because i never had a problem with it before and i just recently brought it back to life. Tranny fluid, oil change, brake fluid, steering fluid, tune up, new tires, etc were all done recently. I know car maintenance is important, but sometimes things that arent broken slip your mind, especially when the car has been stored for the past 4 1/2 years.

 

I was finally able to get the Gold Demon (its been more like a Pyrite Imp lately....) into a very popular (and freaking busy) auto shop here in my town. They do ALL work, on ALL makes and models but its a 7 day wait to get work done.

They looked at the plastic elbow bypass above the timing chain cover, and the mechanic that worked with me said that it is common for those to leak on Camaros but mine was not leaking. He insists that the water pump is broken, he says coolant is spewing out of the weep hole, and that is the ONLY place that coolant is leaking from. He also confirmed there are no signs of a blown head gasket. I explained that the water pump had just been replaced by the other shop that i usually use and was still leaking from the day i picked it up, he confirmed that they have a very good reputation and was surprised to hear that it was broken again but said that any auto shop can get a bad part out of the box.

They called the original shop i took it to and set me up with an appointment to get it repaired under warranty, put the faulty pump back on, and replaced lost coolant with water, but they did charge me 1/2 hour of labor ($38) to tell me all of this.

Looking forward to getting this thing fixed and getting rid of it, i have found some nice 2000-2002 Z28's online for $6500 with just over 100,000 on them. I want to get a V8 late 4th gen to replace the Pyrite Imp lol, but i still need a truck for the winter.

P.S. driving my new girlfriends 2007 Toyota Prius until my car is fixed it is an...... interesting vehicle LOL

 

Driving for 2 days since water pump was re-replaced. No more drips So that was apparently the problem.

Original shop that did the work replaced it for $0 under warranty, were nice enough to charge me up with 50/50 Dexcool (they gave all water last time, i think they were pissed they had to flush it 3 times LOL), and they did a free oil change. Took a long time but i got the right resolution.

 

glad to hear you got her back up and running!

Im in the replacing my water pump process as well, im doing it myself cause im alittle low on cash, and hell, this is a bitch! lol after work i work on her, and its been about 3 days since i started and ive been running into nothing but issues, either with breaking tools, stripped bolts or just running out of sunlight. Mu latest issue is a stripped bolt i'll hopefully get out today, its the last dam bolt to to remove the pump, figures the LAST bolt would be the one to mess me up. UGH haha but i know im learning from expieriance and im trying to stay optimistic that im not jsut wasting time and money. haha after all this is said and done, i'll have my car back in working order, and i'll have a whole new set of tools When this is all said and done, im going to have a nice cold beer and stare at my dirty, oily/coolant finger print stained beauty in awe, knowing that i fixed her lol