Coolant from Bellhousing?

[designerlarsb]

Guys,
after about a month away on vacation, I fired up the old 345 and idled it in the driveway a little while to keep the cobwebs clear. All seemed well until I parked it back in the shop and during the past week of sitting, she's leaked out quite a lot of coolant onto the floor. I thought the epicenter of the puddle seemed pretty far back for a usual coolant leak, but I couldn't tell for sure.

So yesterday I wiped up the mess and moved the rig up to the house garage, with a clean floor. The Scout ran for 2 minutes maybe, and didn't even warm up in the process. Well I immediately spotted a slow drip from the seam between the cover and the front of the (tf 727) bell housing. This drip has continued overnight and is again a pretty good sized puddle now. I don't see any wetness or trails elsewhere on/around the exposed surfaces at the rear of the motor.

So before I start singing the engine hoist blues, is there anything I could/should do to troubleshoot this?

All ideas appreciated.happy belated 4th. Lb

 

[1975IH200]

Yes, I would take the inspection cover off and verify which freeze plug is leaking.
There are two plugs on the rear of the block and two on the rear of each cylinder head.
If a head freeze plug is leaking, you only need to pull the head.

A flashlight & inspection mirror will come in handy.

 

[FDChappie]

In my experience, when a freeze plug starts leaking, the head gasket is or is about start leaking into cylinder #5 it's happened 3x to me.

There are rubber expansion plugs that will fit in side the old plug and you tighten a nut in the center to expand the plug. They do work, but see not above. It's best to catch a leak before you need to bore the cylinders due to rust.

A block tester can be had for around $25 with a blue fluid that turns green if any exhaust is detected in your radiator. This tester will let you know if there is the slightest head gasket leak. These engines can leak for a while before it gets bad enough to tell. First sign is water blowing out of the radiator and filling the overflow tank.