I walked out to my car yesterday morning to discover a small amount of coolant on the ground coming from right underneath where the transmission and engine meet. I climbed under and found it was coming from the dust shield meaning its probably a freeze plug. People on the forums are talking about a mirror to see them, but where do I actually put the mirror because from what i've seen 2 of the freeze plugs are in the bell housing. I managed to snake my hand up and feel the top freeze plug and it feels fine. But how do I check the other 2?

I checked it this morning and the leak isnt too significant, I attached a picture of the puddle, what I am worried about is the clear fluid that the drops are surrounded by, possibly fuel, possibly water? I cant smell anything so I'm not sure. I'll also add that the night before It started leaking I drove it home when it was about 0 degrees outside which is pretty cold for my part of Aus. Dont know if that helps i'm just hoping I dont have to pull the trans out at this point.

 

Update: Took it to a mechanic for a compression test, it failed, the return line had a hole in it aswell. It is leaking from where the transmission and engine meet, so he gave me a baggie of "the good stuff" leak stopper, i've read that thats a terrible idea and will require you to replace pretty much everything in the cooling after a year. How much should I worry about this? Whats the likelihood of it just spontaneously completely breaking and leaving me stranded? Again still havent got eyes on it yet, I have no idea where to place the mirror so it could be a hole in the block or something.

 

There are 2 freeze plugs back there. 1 in the back of the head, which you can see with a mirror by the firewall (back of the head). There is another freeze plug in the back of the block, and that one is hidden by the bell housing. You have to drop the transmission a little bit to expose it. Needless to say, it is a challenge to do. I am not sure you can change that one without taking out the engine or being very skilled at positioning yourself and your tools and then setting the new plug in there.

When you say compression test, you mean the mechanic did a test of the coolant system? Or are you talking about cylinder compression? Because if you have bad cylinder compression then you may as well pull the engine, change the head gasket, change the freeze plugs, get the head checked for cracks and then put it all back together. If the engine is worth saving as this point.

Also, I don't think the leak sealing stuff will help with the freeze plug because the leak is not under pressure so the sealant will not work its way into the leaking plug.

 

The freeze plug IS under coolant pressure. Stop-leak may buy ya some time...not much!

 

Well I just managed to get eyes on the plug on the back of the head and it looks fine. Yes I only get the coolant pressure tested, I'm going to look into getting a cylinder compression test done, but the car is running fine and it doesn't have any other symptoms of a bad gasket but I'm not going to rule anything out till I get a compression test done. Again it isnt leaking too much, maybe a drop every few hours, but I guess any coolant leak is a bad leak, so i'll continue trying to diagnose the problem

 

Check the water pump and radiator first. Coolant will follow the horizontal seams along the block for a long way!.
I spent a lot of time worrying about those damn freeze plugs. They were fine, coolant leaking at the front was blown toward the back where it drips down.