My 1996 Park Avenue has been leeking antifreeze. I cant really tell where its coming from, but I know its left side of engine, and it is dripping onto the oil filter then the floor, so somewhere in that area. Any ideas? Oh, one more problem...my heater blower only seems to want to come on when it pleases, sometimes not for like 2 days, sometimes right away, and sometimes after driving for a while. Could it be a short? If so, where would it be? And where is that? Thanks for looking. Oh yeah, I posted a keyless entry problem in the tech forum if someone wants to check it out. Edited by: timmyj

 

There are many who have had upper and lower intake manifold leaks on your year car. Especially those with no supercharger.
Serious attention to the problem should be addressed. Torquing the heads may help. The upper plenum has been a source of cracks. Some tubings also have needed replacement from plastic to metal.

 

I have a similar problem with my 92 P/A! I have a small puddle under the car on the left side to. I smell a antifrezze type of smell like from a heater core leak! But it not on the right side were the core is. I bought a new heater core anyway, and now I need to figure out how to replace it on a 92 P/A. Any help would be appreciated, Thanks!

 

Check your hoses for any cracks, and tighten any hose clamps. I had a similar problem with my 86' park avenue. It stopped after doing this. Many times when a hose seems good there is or can be a small crack in the hose near the clamp. That if it is cold it will leak but stop when it heats up. Does this leak occur just after starting the car???

 

If you mean left facing the motor from the front of the car, and that's the same side the belts are on, you most likely have a water pump leaking through the weep hole. See if there's moisture under the pulley. You may also have a leak at the elbow tubes connecting to the heater hose from the metal lower intake manifold. When the car is hot having just been driven, spend some time with a flashlight looking for drips and coolant.


The blower erratic behavior sounds like the blower motor relay. Follow the wires from the blower motor where they go above the air box the motor is inside and they connect to the blower control relay. It takes the place of the resistor pack for cars with an automatic speed control for the automatic temperature systems. it's available aftermarket at some places like Advance Auto, rockauto.com, gmpartsdirect.com. Sometimes the fail mode is the blower will not shut off even when the motor shuts off and the battery cable or connector at the blower has to be disconnected; other times they become erratic.

 

I had blower trouble like yours in my 86, although older it does have the auto climate control and to fix my problem I just had to clean the contacts on the plug on the back of it.

 

A little late, but I chased my 3.8L coolant leak for months, turned out to be the coolant elbow, it comes out of the engine, turns 90 degrees, and goes into the idler assembly where it gets carried back to the heater hoses. DON'T TRY TO RIG ONE OF THESE, they only cost like $3.50 from advance auto, but a tube of epoxy is like $5.00, lol, I learned the hard way, mine ended up costing $8.50 or so because the epoxy didn't hold but a day. It's an hour or 2 job going easy with a beer in one hand.

 

Yes , many videos on youtube about the coolant elbows on the 3.8l .

I replaced the plastic elbows on mine with metal elbows .


God bless
Wyr