This swap is absolutely driving me crazy. Car is an '89 DX hatch. I just swapped in a new (rebuilt) d15b2 and in the process did an MPFI swap.

I finally have the engine and everything in the car and just doing things like adding oil and coolant and getting ready to start it up. Well I fill the radiator up and a few seconds later notice that coolant is pouring out from the back of the engine.

As far as I can tell it's leaking from between the head and the intake manifold, right at the passenger side corner of where the intake manifold meets the head.

Any ideas on this? I know there's a coolant passage on the head and I assume it's leaking where it meets the intake manifold. I have a brand new gasket there, and all bolts are tight. What gives?

 

are the hoses connected?
Maybe it's leaking from where the hoses go. Like the brass piece is broken

 

Well, all the hoses are/were connected. I took it apart and it's leaking from that coolant passage that goes between the head and the intake manifold (it's shaped like a rectangle with one corner that's diagonal).

I'm not sure why it would be leaking there, though. I have a brand new gasket on it, and the manifold was on pretty darn tight, so I have no clue. :\

 

i had a slow leak there but it was because the bolts on the bottom of the intake manifold weren't tight enough.

 

Yeah, I guess about the only thing I can do is put on a(nother) new gasket and tighten them down even more. Although they were already about as tight as I felt/feel comfortable with and I certainly don't want to strip anything

 

that's might be part of your problem right there. if you tightened it down to much and didn't torque it to correct specifications, then that would cause it to leak. find the right torque specs and try it again.

 

there's also a pattern to it too, like top left, center, far right etc etc, and it's a two step thing. Like with your head gasket

 

i have the same problem with mine. i did notice that the gasket i used for the intake, which got from napa, was a metal type gasket(shiny and silver like an exhaust gasket). the original gasket was paper-like and had a rubber lip around the coolant passage. i ordered a replacement from honda and it looked like that. putting some silicone sealer around the coolant passages is nothing new, as i've done it on all my chevy intake manifolds. why i didn't do it this time i can't say. just my mistake. eventually it will crust up and seal itself if the leak is small enough.

 

Also, is the manifold correct for the engine, as in are the coolant ports the same shape? I know, dumb question, but I ask anyway.

 

mine sealed itself up, after like a day or 2. not like i didn't want to tend to it, but i didnt have the time. the problem fixed itself.