Oil Cooler leaking anti-freeze

[rpsibew110]

I have a 2013 Sonic and it has in the past left very small spots of anti-freeze and I was unable to locate the leak or even a trail. Yesterday it left a pretty good size spot in the driveway, about a foot around. I put it on ramps and slid under to find a trail of anti-freeze running up the contact joint of the engine and the transmission. Going up and around the oil filter. From there I can not find the culprit. I checked out the coolant output right by the oil filter and it appears to be good. I'll be honest that I can not get a really good look at it. Oh, and it creates pressure when hot. Any ideas what might be leaking?

I was looking at the larger silver tube going to the bottom of the oil filter housing (I guess it's called an oil cooler) and it appears to have coolant running into it. Is there coolant that could leak from behind this housing?

Talked to a dealer and he said there are seals or gaskets behind the oil filter mount and it would be $360 in labor. I also talked to a garage that said no there are none behind it. The garage told me it needs a new oil cooler which is under the exhaust manifold. I don't see how the anti-freeze can get to where it is from the cooler under the manifold, garage has not called with a quote. I might just buy the tools and do it myself that way I will know what is really wrong.

 

[cwhaiyan]

Try to take the hoses off the water outlet and see how the necks look under the hoses that is a very common problem on these cars

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

 

[Ricekila]

Buy or rent from autozone - a hand pump type radiator pressure tester --- at your own risk ?

Make sure the cooling system is filled -- pump to factory specs ( + a little bit ) & look / listen for leaks --

 

[BigLee]

Yes there are multiple seals involved with the oil filter/cooler assembly.
Coolant lines to the turbo bearing housing are also likely leak candidates.
Chances are, you'll have to pull the catalytic converter to track it down.
Depending on which seal is leaking on the oil filter/cooler, you'll have to loosen and pull the exhaust manifold/turbo away from the engine some to get the filter/cooler out.
If it's one of the two coolant tubes to the cooler or the turbo coolant tubes leaking, then you should be able to make repairs without pulling the manifold/turbo asy.

The two coolant tubes have replaceable O-rings to seal them to the cooler/filter asy.
Be sure to lube the O-rings with coolant before reinstalling them