stoney1997

So let's start off with the basics. '92 LS400. Got home one night, shut the car off, saw a misty smoke coming from the center of the hood, wasn't too thrilled. Popped the hood and after about a minute I could hear dripping, again.. not thrilled. So i take a gander under the car and just above the trans there was coolant just trickling down. Looked for about an hour today, did some research, and just to kind of get clarification, could it be the heater core or any hoses leading to it? Really don't feel like doing anything related to the heater core because i heard it's a SOB.

Engine swap question now. What motors can I comfortably fit into my LS for a good price, and a reliable outcome, but still have room to mod and add some sauce?

P.S., Might just end up selling it this summer anyways for some profit.

bradland

Probably hoses surrounding the heater valve or possibly the water bypass.
These hoses become very hard and brittle over time. There's a good chance one, or more, of your motor mounts has become compromised causing the engine to shift downward. When this happens those same hoses that used to be flexible can crack.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

if it's outside the car (in the engine bay), it's most likely NOT the heater core which resides inside the dash.
most likely it's the air mix valve (first pic above) which resides directly in the middle on the firewall just below the wiper cowl.
check that for leaks and the associated hoses.

as for swap, nothing is bolt on so nothing is cheap. 1/2JZ motors have been installed but i only know of one successful person to do this.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

Air mix valve aka Heater control valve (87240 in the pic above, that's not the part number though) commonly leaks with age, the plastic just gets brittle. Also commonly gets damaged when doing engine mounts/removal because people forget to unbolt it and it gets crushed when lifting the engine.

stoney1997

Hopefully this will be a semi-quick and easy job then cause it already sounds like some booty work.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

Make sure to bleed the coolant after fixing the leak. I recommend using a bleed funnel/no-spill funnel.