Catera coolant leak

[Steven420]

the washers for the banjo bolts can be reused if you aneal them by heating them up a bit and then reinstalling them. this rearranges the molecules and makes the washer soft again..ive done this hundreds of times without leaks.

[R-Caddy]

I removed the HCV today. It seems ok, but my Cat started pouring coolant yesterday. Is it still possible that it's the HCV's fault? Where could it be leaking from? I need to get this car back on the road. Also, is it OK to just get a T-connector to connect the hoses, instead of using the alve again? Or could it be some other reason for it?
Thanks

[mytmous]

The 3 lines are for 2 paths, It took me awhile to find how it worked and flowed.
the valve is vacume controled to let it flow from the right(feed line) to one of the 2 other lines.
top left (into heater) or bottom left (into bypass feed)

Only way i can explaine it, top left goes into heater then out to radiator, the bottom left goes into the flow after the heater but going to the same place. SO if a vacume is applied you have hot water in the heater core, no vacume no heat as the flow is bypassing the heater core.
I was without heat for a year or so because the vacume line from inside the car to the HCV didn't work, I T-'ed off a line from the intake and ran to the HCV so i could have heat. and after replacing the HCv 3 times in 2 years, i got sick of paying $90 a pop for it.

[sccatera97]

There is also a cross over manifold between the two cylinder heads that has two sensors in it. It could be leaking fronm the threads of the sensors or the o-rings between the manifold and cylinder heads.

[xanax06]

I took my Cat to dealer for what I thought was going to be a HCV replacement. Small leak, could smell coolant. They call me after 2 hrs, seems that some "bridge" is leaking and is going to cost $800 to fix. But thankfully I can afford it.
I found $25K hidden in the trunk.

[Boris]

$800 for the coolant cross over ??

Where do they get these prices ????

[livebait]

When checking into a leak that is located on the driver side on the Catera there is usually a few things to look for.
Is the leak dripping from the manifold? If it is, then it will probably end up being the Head Gasket.
But before assuming the worst check out the obvious first.
Look for a leak in the HCV, Coolant Return Pipe, Oil Cooler Cover, Water Crossover or even the thermostat.
I just completed a complete head job on my Catera and it was the head gasket that caused the mystery leak coming from the Driver Manifold.
One thing that should be noted, The factory engine coolant is the red type and that type is highly corrosive. When changing over the head gasket or doing a complete Flush then change to the Green coolant. I can show the damage on my head gaskets that where eaten away because of the coolant. The head was not damaged but you could clearly see where the coolant ate into the gasket and eventually worked its way out into a leak.
I will post some picture if you would like just email me
bait@livebaitandtackle.com
Thanks Keith
www.livebaitandtackle.com

[Army_MP_From_MO]

I'd have to pull out the owner's manual, but I think the red type is the only type that should be used in our cars. I don't know the reason why, but I would assume the engineers know why.

[Cadi Cat]

I have 142k miles and counting, and I've never had a problem with leaks in the heads or anywhere else besides my water pump. But I don't think that's because of the "corrosive" factory coolant. It specificly says use dexcool only!

[Jon_AC]

So, My poor baby went into the dealership today with a nasty coolant leak.
I brought it into a few other places, but none of them wanted to work on the car because they didn't have the proper tools. So I guess I'm stuck bringing it to the dealership.

1998 Catera with 145,000km.

Prior to this, I've had no major problems, but have only had the car for about 2 years.

I did a run on the vin # and I found that it was diagnosed with a minor coolant leak just before I got the car. In the report I received, it mentioned the leak coming from one of the heads or the oil cooler.

I'm the lucky one who got stuck with it when the coolant leak got really bad.

I do notice that its leaking from the back of the engine though.
So I'm kind of hoping its the HCV.

Can anyone suggest a reasonable price that it should cost to get this repaired.
I will post the quote I get from the dealership as soon as it is available.

-Jon