1993 Chevy Cavalier Head Gasket or Hose?

Tiny
DRMUSICMASTER
  • MEMBER
  • 1993 CHEVROLET CAVALIER
  • 6 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 253,000 MILES
My vehicle had a known coolant leak which we could not find but was easily maintained by adding coolant. Suddenly today my vehicle started losing all of its coolant. I added coolant but it was lost almost immediately. The vehicle started smoking severely. My exhaust is in disrepair, but it seemed like the smoking was coming from the rear of the vehicle. Where should I look for a leak, and is it more probable that it is a head gasket or simply a leaking hose? How much would a head gasket cost to replace? I've replaced hoses before, so that wouldn't be difficult for me to do.
Friday, March 20th, 2009 AT 10:39 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
ZACKMAN
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  • 4,202 POSTS
While you can't find the leak, do you see the coolant under the car? When you said you lost the coolant almost immediately, did it leak out to under the car? Where? In the front of the car, the back of the engine, passenger side, driver side?

You need to help us as we can't see your car.
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Friday, March 20th, 2009 AT 7:15 PM
Tiny
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My car is not smoking under the hood, it seems to be under the vehicle itself. It doesn't appear to be coming out of the tailpipe. I did watch the car as it was running. The smoke is white. It is not smoking into the cabin. I wasn't able to let the vehicle sit for long enough earlier to see where the antifreeze was dripping because I was concerned with getting the vehicle home, although now that it's been sitting for a while so I might be able to at least figure out where it is coming from. I did stop often to at least put water into the reservoir so that it would not become dry. It appears to be coming from the back of the engine block. I suspect maybe that the antifreeze is hitting the exhaust and that is why it's smoking. The weird thing is that there will be some spurts where it would stop smoking for a few moments, as if everything was normal and then start doing the same thing over again. My dad seems to think maybe it might be a heater hose, since the vehicle was leaking a small portion of coolant before, but was unable to track down where the leak was coming from, and there was no blowby. The intake had been replaced before I had gotten the vehicle back in January and I had just had the ignition control Module replaced (not sure this would matter much, just thought I'd mention it)
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Friday, March 20th, 2009 AT 8:57 PM
Tiny
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Your dad might be right about a leaking heater hose. There is one underneath the intake manifold and two going into the cabin to the heater core. If you can't find the leak, you may need to go to your local parts store and purchase a dye that you can add to the antifreeze. Using UV light, you can see where the dye will be leaking from.
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Saturday, March 21st, 2009 AT 9:54 PM

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