345 has coolant coming out of drain hole of transmission bell housing cover

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IceFyre13th

Member
Just looked under my 72 Scout to see a small puddle of anti-freeze on the driveway, :yikes: seems to be coming from a weep hole in the transmission cover under the bell housing (727 auto) .

I can only assume this means a freeze plug is leaking.

As this is the original 345 engine with 211,200 miles on it I figure a new engine is in the works.

My question is where is the best place to buy a rebuilt engine?
 
Yea, likely a freeze plug and if one is bad the others are not far behind..

I would not write the 345 off at 200k unless it is showing other signs of being long in the tooth. You could have it freshened up with rings gaskets cam bearings and freeze plugs of course. To determine if that is doable the bores would need to be checked and the cam inspected..

As far as a good re builder in az I will be of no help but hope another member will know.
 
I figure if the engine needs to be pulled to fix the freeze plugs then I might as well replace it with a rebuilt engine. Then keep the original and build it the way I want to, new cam, port / polish, higher compression pistons, etc.

The only other issue it has is an occasional puff of smoke at a cold start up, normally from me pumping the gas too much....

Is it possible to replace the freeze plugs while still in the vehicle, could drop the transmission to get at the back ones...?
 
A brand new engine with have the puff of smoke on start up, so no fixin that using stock parts. Yes you can reach the plugs if the transmission is removed. I would make a cross bar, from fender to fender to help hold the back of the motor up too. Or some sort of screw jack under the pan. The issue being the motor mounts are very far forward and the engine needs some extra support.
 
The plugs on the rear of the cylinder heads will be quite challenging to access in the rig, same with most of the ones on either side of the block. While its not impossible, it is extremely tedious and frustrating. Did it once. That's more than enough for me. Engines are not that hard to pull. An engine that can be rotated on a stand is a dream to work on.
 
I used to live in mesa. Thirty years ago I rebuilt a 196, and used s & s on main street to tank everything, bore the cylinders, and set the cam bearings. Maybe they are even still there.
 
Oh, and one more place. I had them do my head work. Advance on broadway, just east of dobson. I think a lot has changed in that area, though. Convenient, as I used to live on crescent.
 
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