WHEN LEAKS ATTACK

Drip drip goes the Cadillac

A customer brought to me a 2004 Cadillac  SRX with the 4.6 liter engine.  Evidently it had been leaking fluid for some time in small amounts but now it was a full blown gusher.  Nice orange spot every time she parked.
"Help me!" she cried.  I guess I'm a sucker for dames so what the heck, I decided to see what I could do.

Observing a large puddle of dexcool under the car, I took a flashlight and examined the front of the engine.  Yup.  Leaking from water pump weep hole.  Nice simple job.  Put a new pump in, bled the system and checked it for leaks.  Still leaking, only this time from the other side of the engine!  I verified that the pump was bad (it was) and resolved to find the other leak.  

First thing was to get some coolant dye that was compatible with dexcool. Here is what I used.

What I saw was the coolant leaking from behind the intake air hose from a piece of metal that connects to the intake manifold. It is known as the water outlet.

This caused a significant leak down the passenger side of the engine and cannot be seen because the gaskets are on the rear side of the intake water outlet. So it has to come off.  Like these picture show, there are four bolts that hold it on and a large hose and small hose on the left side.  But first the throtle body bolts have to come off. There is a hidden bolt behind the throttle body.

Throttle body removed and the bolts are clearly seen.

Once the assembly had been removed, the leak area and gaskets could be clearly seen. Notice the scale buildup on the right hand picture.  The gaskets were similarly covered.  A leak was inevitable.

Here's a destroyed gasket that shows the scale buildup and reason for the leak.

New gaskets with part number from GM.  (Dont get them at the dealer, they are 6x as expensive)

Thread in the bolts to hold the gaskets and then put some locktite thread sealer on it to hold them in place.

Torque it down and put the throttle body bolts back on.  assemble the rest of the small stuff you took off (hoses, wires, etc) and refill it with coolant.  It should look like this when you are done.

On an added note, there is a tee fitting for the radiator overflow tank that sits on top of the radiator.  You can see it in the above picture on the lower right hand corner.  Notice the one I have is metal while the original is plastic.  Discard the plastic one and get a metal tee.  The plastic will break and leak all over the place while the metal one will probably outlast the vehicle.  Just one less leak for you to worry about.

If your zen concentration and relaxation techniques are up to par, you will not feel the least bit angry about the horrible leaks the SRX can develop.  Except for that tee fitting.  That's really pushing it Cadillac!!