Coolant leak when I turn my heater off

[Temassi]

Sorry if this has been posted about but I haven't been able to find an answer on here. I've got an intermittent coolant leak that has been driving me crazy. It coming from about the middle of the van, it's leaking down and dripping off the transmission but I can't trace it anywhere. Even with the UV dye.

What I have noticed though is the it tend to leak most when I've been running my heaters (front and back) for a while and then turn it off. My gut is saying it has to do with the back heater due to where the leak is coming from but I'm not sure.

I just wanted to check and see if anyone has had this problem before.

(feel free to delete if it's been answered somewhere I don't want to gum up the site)

[timsrv]

Sounds like the hose of death or maybe the rear freeze plug. The "hose of death" will drip down the exterior of the engine and transmission. The rear freeze plug will come out from between the transmission and engine. Neither is fun to fix, but the hose of death would be better than the freeze plug. If you don't know what the "hose of death" is, just search the forum using that term and something will pop-up. Tim

[Temassi]

The Hose of Death was my first thought too. I cut an access hole to repair it and the hose looked totally fine. It even had worm gear claps on it which makes me think it's already been replaced. I'll do some more digging, see if I can get it to start leaking and then go find it. Thank your for the reply Tim I appreciate it!

[timsrv]

I had a van that would build and hold pressure fine (no leaking), then the next time I went to use it there was a puddle of coolant underneath and it was low. If it sat for more than a day I'd need to add almost ½ gal of coolant to top it off. It drove me crazy because it never leaked when I'd try to trouble shoot. I didn't find the cause until I removed the engine for an overhaul. It turned out that somebody had installed one of those expanding type freeze plugs on the side of the block under the manifold. When the coolant was hot the rubber part of the freeze plug would get soft and seal, but when it cooled down it would get hard and lose the seal.

I don't know what's happening with yours, but I can tell you that all of the hidden hoses and freeze plugs are on the driver's side and rear of the engine (at least on the US marketed L/H drive vans). You can see some of them by laying down and looking up from behind the driver's side wheel........and hopefully it will be leaking when you are down there looking. Good luck. Tim

[Temassi]

I noticed it was actively leaking today so I opened up my little access hole for the hose of death. When I moved the hose it sprayed coolant from weak spots on the hose after all. Your assessment was 100, it was that damned hose! Thank you for all your input. I really appreciate having this site it's a life saver!

[timsrv]