The frustrating saga of my motor rebuild continues. I am the point of adding fluids to get the car ready to be fired up.
So today I'm adding antifreeze. Leave for while to run errands and come home to find a drip just below the oil pan. After some investigating, It appears to be coming from the freeze plug next to the starter. :mad:
The motor has not turned once yet I've got a leak. :mad: :mad:
I'm a novice at a lot of this. Why would this happen? I took the motor to a so-called reputable rebuilder.
Can I change the freeze plug with the motor in place? Please don't tell me I have to yank out the motor.

depends on if the plug holes were gouged when removing them and weather or not the plug installer dude (whoever that might have been) put sealer on them.

most of the time if they're only slightly seaping,, they'll circulate some crud arround there and seal up just fine. go ahead and run it in making sure to keep it full of water. keep the hose running and laying on the ground next to the car.

i always run em in on straight water so i'm not loosing that expensive coolant if it seaps water.

if it makes you nervous,, you can add a little tube of the stop leak that looks like a copper powder. usually takes car of it.

they'll usually seal up 9 times out of 10. it's not as bad as it sounds. as long as it's not peeing out just sitting there.

Like 74rat says they should seal up when the engine heat cycles. I've seen it many times.

How did the engine builder clean your block? If they used the metal shot and oven technique, that can change the dimensions ( to larger holes) in the block. My engine builder in Syracuse refuses to use that method just for that reason. He says it's a PITA dealing with all the permits for the chemical clean system but it doesn't take the temper out of the block and it doesn't shot peen the holes (mains, cam bearing, lifter bores) like the metal shot oven does.

As for fixing your problem, you'll most likely have to put one of those expanding as you tighten it rubber plugs in.

Are you supposed to put a sealer around the freeze plug when you put it in? I just put a new one in and just pounded it in there, its pretty tight.

You can stick a rubber "expandable" plug in there with the motor in with no problems and that should do it.

When I completed the 383 in my '72, I had the same experience. I filled up the cooling system the night before I was going to fire it up for the first time, and the next morning my initial excitement was dampened (literally) when I noticed two little puddles of antifreeze under my new motor. Yes, TWO freeze plugs were leaking...one behind the alternator (easy to get to) and one near one of the the motor mounts (a royal PITA). Since the leaks looked pretty small, I elected to fire the motor and break the cam in anyway. I figured I'd simply watch the leaks and monitor the water level and if it REALLY got bad I'd abort the process and replace the freeze plugs.

Long story short...the freeze plugs sealed up during the 30-minute cam break-in and never seeped/leaked again. That was in 1993. They haven't leaked a drop since.

If the leak is small, I'd run the motor and see if the freeze plug seals -- there is a good chance it will. Obviously you should watch the leak during this process and make sure that the water level doesn't drop if the leak does not improve.

i've always used brass plugs with sealer never had any problems.

How did the engine builder clean your block? If they used the metal shot and oven technique, that can change the dimensions ( to larger holes) in the block. My engine builder in Syracuse refuses to use that method just for that reason. He says it's a PITA dealing with all the permits for the chemical clean system but it doesn't take the temper out of the block and it doesn't shot peen the holes (mains, cam bearing, lifter bores) like the metal shot oven does.
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Sorry, but I have to say Horsepucky.

Soft plugs are an interference fit, and a shot blast clean will NOT affect the hole size. I think the builder did not seal the outside diameter of the plug before inserting it.

Now, if you properly bake a block, hot tank it, then load it into the shot blast for no more than a couple of minutes (as recommended), you will not have any problems. There have been problems when people do not follow cleaning procedures correctly, and they expect the shot blast to clean everything without baking or hot tanking the motor.

Shot blast taking the temper out of the block? We blast them with HUGE shot blast cabinets at the foundry to put temper into it.