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Please help me confirm the origin of this leak!

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Old Dec 7, 2018 | 04:55 AM
  #11  
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Originally Posted by Jesse Rector
I don’t see any sign of a leak near the intake manifold but I’m not going to rule that out. Do you know if the coolant in an 09 would have a slightly “slick” feel to it? The viscosity is similar to a really thin oil.
This is what my LIM leak looked like after one day when it had gotten really bad and I had to pull over, which seems to have a similar color as your posted pics. It does have kind of an oily feel to it as well.


I was unable to identify the leak when looking from the top of the engine. After I knew for certain what the problem was, I did notice some fluid around one of the spark plugs on the driver's side. Notice where my front fan is located. It seems to be the same area of the engine where your leak is coming from, just on the opposite side.

Last edited by Rednroll; Dec 7, 2018 at 05:00 AM.
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Old Dec 7, 2018 | 07:15 AM
  #12  
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Originally Posted by Rednroll
This is what my LIM leak looked like after one day when it had gotten really bad and I had to pull over, which seems to have a similar color as your posted pics. It does have kind of an oily feel to it as well.


I was unable to identify the leak when looking from the top of the engine. After I knew for certain what the problem was, I did notice some fluid around one of the spark plugs on the driver's side. Notice where my front fan is located. It seems to be the same area of the engine where your leak is coming from, just on the opposite side.
You are right... unfortunately. They do look very similar. The fluid in my photo looks more orange in the photo than it does in person but the similar pattern is concerning.

One more “update”: I noticed that the tensioner pulley bracket (correct term?) is caked with fluid and grime on the top of the bracket (closest to the PS pump).





Perhaps I have 2 leaks going on.

I got the pump in today so I’ll try to swap it tonight and give the area a good scrub. Hopefully it’s just the pump but I should be able to trace the LIM leak easily after scrubbing it down.

I’ll update.

Thanks all

Last edited by Jesse Rector; Dec 7, 2018 at 07:26 AM.
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Old Dec 7, 2018 | 07:28 AM
  #13  
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I have a similar discussion thread I started when I 1st noticed my LIM leak that you may find useful. I found that one of my LIM bolts was broken. I hope you don't have that problem, since that definitely caused me a lot of additional grief. Consider yourself fortunate, if it is just the water pump. That's a much simpler replacement.
https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/stoc...e-area-343770/

I also included a step-by-step guide at the end, of the work which needs to be done to replace the gasket. It's not a fun job but doable for a DIY home mechanic.

Here is a pic I took once I had the upper and lower intake manifolds off which shows the LIM gasket. So if you're noticing a leak near the belt tensioner, that gasket is definitely in that area.

Here's after removing the gasket. Oil and coolant run through those port passages where a leak in the gasket could cause both an oil leak and a coolant leak, and therefore them mixing together to again provide more of an oily feel to the leaking fluid.

Last edited by Rednroll; Dec 7, 2018 at 07:37 AM.
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Old Dec 7, 2018 | 10:13 PM
  #14  
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Originally Posted by Rednroll
This was my thought as well, especially having experienced a LIM leak on my 2009.
Add me to that list of intake manifold. Gaskets on the 3.8 have been know to fail. Mine did at, oh, a couple hundred thousand miles.
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Old Dec 9, 2018 | 01:03 PM
  #15  
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Now that I got a closer look at the fluid color I vote for a coolant leak.
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