anyone know where this hole leads to?

[joelmaupin]

trying to figure out where this hole goes.


and where is my car leaking to have coolant/steam coming out of it?
2000 ssei 110k, any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
joel

[Roadrunner]

There is a cover that bolts to the back of the block that caps off oil and water chambers. It also holds the rear main crank seal.
It is common for the bolts to come loose.
One time I had this cover leak oil.
Later, I had a coolant leak that I could never locate (could smell it but never saw anything).
Then one day this gasket blew out completely - water would run out almost as fast as I could fill radiator.
Either engine or trans has to come out to change the gasket.

[joelmaupin]

well that is def not what I wanted to read today! that does make since tho. but still could it be anything else? I don't understand why that would run down to the rear main. ive never heard of a motor built that way? and im not leaking any oil at all. it never has. and I cant find anything on the internet about that cover making it leak coolant? I just don't think thats right.

[quicksilver]

If you think about it, the flex plate is on that end of the engine. I havent looked to well at mine, but the end of the block is right there, and the transmission bolts up to the engine, you need to have room for the flex plate (its not a flywheel) and the torque converter. I said it in your other post, I think its just an air vent for the flex plate. Go and rent a pressure tester kit from an auto parts store to pressurize your cooling system. It will put pressure into the system without the car running and will help you find any leaks, be it internal or external. All you have to do is have some patience and listen to find where its leaking. I waited a while, probably ten minutes, and found some nimwitt had tried to use rtv in place of a proper gasket, the result from the pressure test kit was that it started bubbling from that part.

Like I said, I don't know off the top of my head what that hole is, and I'm not about to go outside in 5° weather, but I do believe its only a vent hole for the flex plate. While I was playing with my car after I got it, I noticed air flowing out of their, IIRC I was trying to track any exhaust leaks and thats when I noticed the air coming from there. When I get a chance tomorrow, I'll go out nd get a better look this way i can give an accurate response.

For future reference, its easier for people to track your problems if you keep all of your posts in one thread as opposed to creating multiple threads. Eventually one of the experts will give you a better idea than one of us simpletons can give, just give your original thread a bump next time bro.

[joelmaupin]

yeah I think its just a vent too but im curious as to where all it goes ya know? that's the only reason I posted another one about it. but yeah def to cold to go out and mess with right now. I am going to rent a tester. just haven't had time yet. ole lady is pregnant and don't have time between her and work lol. I am going to do the lim gaskets either way they are the original. hopefully one of them blew into a funny port that's not used for nothing but that hole! boy that would be nice. cuz I sure as hell don't have the abilty to pull the motor right now. well mostly just don't want to! I was going to tear it apart today. but I walked outside and promptly walked right back in the house. to cold and not hanging out in the wind and I have way to much crap in the garage! ohio weather sucks! at least my snowmobile will fire right up haha!

[quicksilver]

Yea ain't nobody got time to pull a motor, especially if its your dd. It doesnt look like you have the orange dexcool in there anymore, so thats one thing going in your favor, cause that stuff will eat the LIM gaskets. It may turn out that they aren't leaking, but since you believe they are original, its good practice to get them out before something does go wrong when its most inconvenient. Word of warning with those pressure testers, when I rented one, I could only get the universal adapter to work for me, not sure if other kits have better adapters or not. But the universal adapter is basically like a cork and you have to jam it into the opening the best you can to get it to seal. Even then, I could only put in 10lbs before it would blow coolant all over the place. Even though you get all your money back, for $216 they should have better adapters, ya know?

[joelmaupin]

nope no dex-cool for this guy! yea I know what ya mean. thinking about trying to rent a boroscope too. I really wanna know where this *dang* hole goes. its driving me nuts driving my gfs jeep! I hate that thing!

[quicksilver]

http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... =53&t=3591

Just in case you havent tackled the project before and wanted some tips, this site has been a great help to me, so I just wanted to extend the help to you.

And what's wrong with jeeps????!!!

[quicksilver]

http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... 38090.html

This was also at the bottom of the page under realted topics, so there ys have it.

[joelmaupin]

oh I just don't like her jeep that's all! its an 08 grand Cherokee Laredo. get this.. 2WD!! itll barely go threw 6 inches of snow! that's interesting about timing marks. yea ive done lim gaskets 5 or 6 times now on different things. this will be my second on a 3800. ive got that down no problem.

[joelmaupin]

altho now thinking about it it couldn't be for timing the hole is on the back of the motor all the timing would be done on the front of the motor under the harmonic balancer. so that theory is out

[quicksilver]

There are still marks on the flex plate for the cps, although magnetic, I guess you would still wanna see that theyre there.

[joelmaupin]

check these out where the leak is coming from under the motor is extremely similar to my problem im gonna pull the dust cover when I rent the pressure tester and pray I don't have to pull the tranny... doesn't really look like a bad job tho.
http://www.gmforum.com/1992-1999-91/coo ... on-272517/
http://www.3800pro.com/forum/cooling-sy ... wheel.html

and this one is a good picture of the coolant and oil passages the seal case covers up..
http://media.photobucket.com/user/BCGea ... term]=3800 rear crankshaft seal&filters[primary]=images
I do believe im depressed now.

[Roadrunner]

Having trouble seeing two of your links.

This is an old picture of the back of my block (not real good one)





At the bottom is the crank with bolt holes for flex plate.
Above it is end of camshaft and end of balance shaft at top.
Water chambers are left & right of cam & balance.
Oil is at end of cam & balance and area around crank.

Was kind of hoping you were going to find the leak to be at end of LIM gasket.

This engine has been retired & I have it at work. LMK if you need any other pictures.

Also if you know you have a leak, I wouldn't put pressure on it.
Back in the day I used to use low pressure radiator caps to buy extra time on leaky radiators.

[joelmaupin]

its to cold out side for me to try and figure it out yet. going to wait a few days and hopefully I get lucky.

[myfirstbonnie]

The rear cover has coolant ports from the block. Here are the pictures from the block in my garage and the fully assembled engine on the stand. Under that hole is nothing more than the rear engine cover, the flexplate and torque converter. There are no timing marks on he flexplate and no crank sensors there. That hole is just that A HOLE. If you do not see any coolant leaking into there, then you probably have a rear cover leak.

[joelmaupin]

well guys just an update but ya'll are correct.. tranny has to come out unfortunately.. but oh well found a good mechanic to take care of it for 400.
should have it back in a couple of days!. then gonna tear it apart and do the intake gaskets to make sure this car is right before this baby gets here! thanks for the help everyone!