Doug's Cobalt SS SC

All great feedback guys as always thank you !

I will be sure to give an update after trying a few of these tricks !

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

Need your help again guys. My car is still at the shop my tech ordered & installed new rubber o rings that he got directly from GM. He installed them & put the cores back in & everything back together at around 7pm last night & left it under pressure over night. When he got back to the shop at around 7am this morning he found 2 drops of coolant in the bottom of my intake manifold again & he knows that coolant wasn't there cause he had it cleaned out the night before. He said it only lost about 2 pounds of pressure over the 12.5 hours that it sat under pressure over night which he said is normal but the 2 drops of coolant still shows us that we have a small leak

He took it all back a part again which now makes the 3rd time having the intake off & all 4 cores out & again he doesn't see anything that could be causing this leak ! The o rings were not pinched in any way & the cores like perfectly round & the washers are on there like they are suppose to be.

He thinks that we should take the new dual pass endplate off & put the factory single pass plate back on & he thinks that could stop the leaking but that would defeat everything that we've done plus I don't see how the endplate could have anything to do with the leak since its internal. There has never been any coolant on the ground it's only been found in the intake manifold.

Anyhow he put the cores back in again put it all back together & has it back under pressure again. He's had it back under pressure for about 4 hours now & so far there's not a single drop of coolant in the intake however as we have seen with this leak it's a slow leak that typically doesn't show any signs of leaking until it's been back together for around 12 hours or more so we aren't out of the woods yet.

I could use your guys help with this we just can't figure out where this super slow leak is coming from in order to fix it.

ECaulk

iTrader: (6)

who did you get the dual pass from?

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

Zzp

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

My tech did say that the ZZP dual pass endplate fit nice & flush with the intake

At this point if it's leaking again in the morning I'm thinking that I would have no other choice then to purchase a new LSJ intake manifold from ZZP for $430 since it already comes with 4 new cores washers & o rings this way I wouldn't have to spend more time & $ chasing the leak

The only thing we would have to do is just swap the 2 cores for the dual pass setup & that's it

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

I see people talking about using JB weld on their ZZP dual pass endplate which seems to fix the problem would you guys recommend this ?

& if so where would I put the jb weld ? & will this prevent me from ever being able to take the end plate back off again ?

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

Well another drop of coolant in the intake this morning

My tech really thinks that it's the ZZP dual pass endplate

We're going to put JB weld on it

jdbaugh1

iTrader: (1)

JB weld what part? If it mates two parts that are supposed to be removable I wouldn't do it. I had to use a little bit of water-weld around the bottom nipple on my plate because it leaked externally. Did your tech shine a flashlight down into the manifold to check the mating surface for the O-rings? I would think unless the Laminova core itself has a pin-hole or something the only place it can leak internally is around the O-ring seal on each end of the cores. The O-rings are obviously not the problem but if there was a nick or scratch on the surface that the O-ring seals around it could cause a leak.

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

So yes my tech did the flashlight test & everything was good. We used new ZZP o rings & then took those off & put on new GM o rings & the leak is still there. We can confirm that the leak is for sure not coming from the o rings. The washers are good as well. I asked him if we would still be able to take the duel pass endplate off of the manifold after using the JB weld & he wasn't sure so trust me I really don't want to do this but I'm stuck

My other plan was to purchase a new manifold with the new cores & seals already in it however if it's a endplate issue then I would have just wasted over 450!

My tech was also thinking about putting my OEM single pass plate back on & then pressure test it again as this would really tell us if it's an endplate issue or not but his shop is 40 miles away from my house & without a car right now it's not easy to get that end plate back to him

I also reached out to ZZP to see if they would just over night a new dual pass right to my techs shop but I haven't heard back from them yet

I've heard of guys on here with this same issue and they used JB weld & it fixed the leak but I'm not sure where they used it

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

Well we confirmed that it was my new ZZP dual pass endplate that was causing the leak & not the cores ! My tech pressure tested my OEM endplate over the weekend the same way that we've tested the ZZP dual pass endplate the past 3 times now & after 24 hours we had no leaks !

In order to at least get me back on the rd my tech took some JB weld & filled it in around the inside of the ZZP dual pass endplate where he felt that the leak could be coming from he then put the ZZP dual pass endplate back on my car & pressure tested it over night & again no more leaks !

He put the SC & everything back on topped my option b off with coolant & test drove her & she ran great, he's going to keep her over night again tonight & then test drive her again in the am to make sure we're in the clear.

The only way that ZZP will send me another new endplate is by me sending them my current endplate so that they can test it first to confirm that it leaks.

I don't have the time for that & who knows after all of that even though we know that it's the endplate they could come back & say it's fine & then I'm stuck with the same one or I could get another new one & still have the same issue.

My plan is to pick her up tomorrow as long as she's still good drive her for a while & as long as the issue doesn't come back I may just leave it alone however if it does leak again I will just put out the extra $ for the CED dual pass

Henry3959

What's the CED Dual Pass? I have seen OTTP's

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

Crate engine Depo, its dual pass but it's suppose to be one of the best dual pass endplate that $ can buy for our cars

Henry3959

That blows me away...

Others tap, hack or weld onto an old one and ZZP has a completely new one cast in China and marked up for less. I still like ZZP's solution but if I purchased theirs I would completely line the inside with the same epoxy kit that old motorcycle gas tanks are lined with to be repaired.

Maybe if they were just pressure tested before selling them they would find the leaking fittings and porosity issues.

You know exactly who they are talking about in their statement: ZZPerformance had a new end plate casted so we do not have to hack up a used stock plate, weld fittings on it, then thread ugly fittings into it. Ours is a new bolt on unit with no core charge!

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

I just wanted to follow up on this thread in case anyone else goes through the same nightmare that I did. So after weeks of pressure testing & taking all four cores in & out to check for pinched o rings or damage to the cores & at the end of the day this slow internal coolant link was all caused by my bran new ZZP dual pass endplate. Now I would never through ZZP under the bus I love their parts & this will not stop me from buying from them however if anyone is looking to do the dual pass/option b install & you go with ZZP dual pass endplate I strongly advise that you make sure its level & even if it looks perfect like my endplate did I would still suggest lining the inside with JB weld which is what we ended up doing & it stopped the leak.

My car is now running perfect however i went weeks without my car, I risked hydro locking my pistols due to the coolant that blew into it & I lost extra $ on labor all due to a new part so either spend the extra $ on a nicer endplate or take the extra time to seal over the current seals

jdbaugh1

iTrader: (1)

Did you JB weld around the O-rings or where?

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

So I wish I had a picture of the after, below is a picture of my dual pass prior to doing anything to it & as you can see it looks good.

The leak was coming from the inside of the endplate where the middle nipple is. We put JB weld around that area

Smc252

I believe I have the same issue with my zzp endplate. Brand new $600 manifold, I wish I'd left it stock and used water injection.