engine trouble
 

alright. so as you'll notice in my lil stats i drive an 88 NA 300ZX. It was fine two days ago, today i wake up and there is a puddle of coolant running down my driveway. i get underneath the car to take a looksie and i notice the coolant is dripping pretty quickly out of the bottom of the front of the motor somewhere near the main pulley. im thinking at that time that the front main seal is blown, but reading some forums it sounds pretty common for the vg30e to blow the crankshaft seal. i will admit that im clueless as to how to go about replacing this $19 part and how easy it is to access. i also realize that im probably barking up the wrong tree, but i do consider this to be my forum world "home" so i came here first for answers. so what do u think guys?

well i dont know much about the 300zx but as far as the front main/crankshaft seal go they shouldnt contain coolant at all..if anything i would guess a waterpump..but usually it doesnt just happen overnight like that, its more gradual..make sure you check all the hoses ect that run from out of the side of the block as well

thanks bro. any help will do. i'll have to get that thing into a garage and check it out thoroughly. do you think it may be the front main? idk. just trying to brainstorm. the only way to know for sure is to get my hands dirty.

take good pictures we may be able to narrow down the problem.

well like i said i doubt its the front main if coolant is everywhere, the front main hold oil in..and if u have coolant with your oil thats a whole nother problem

well the crank shaft sticks out from the front of the engine (crank shaft pully) to the rear of the engine (flywheel/pressure plate) and the only thing keeping the oil from coming out of the 2 holes it makes in the bottom of the block is the front and rear main seals. so no there shouldnt be any coolant coming from those seals at all if they are leaking it would be oil.

check you radiator for cracks or signs of leaking, check rad. hoses , check all the coolant hoses on the motor also check the water pump. just fill up the rad with water turn the car on and inspect with a flash light

When the seal on the water pump goes bad it goes bad all at once, it's designed to leak like a mofo when it goes. That's my bet.

I used to have an 88 300zx too. That engine ran like a tank.

Anyways, I used to get help from the guys on zcar.com, although I think a lot of them have moved onto 88hybrid.com

thanks for the help guys. i need to get it to my buddies garage and when i do ill take some pics. i just gotta wait till finals are done.

small update: i fixed the damn car. she doesnt lleak a thing now. i went ahead and replaced the water pump like you guys had suggested and its all good in and under the hood. i took a lot of pics from the installation. had a few snags but it got done in just over two days. i would say it took about 6-8 hours worth of work total. im going to work on writing the installation of the water pump over christmas break since i cant upload any of the pics yet. (no dock for my camera in NJ) i just wanted to thank you guys for your help as always. this forum was more helpful than the damn chiltons maual for the Z. anyway, happy holidays to everyone and thanks again for the help.