04 intrepid coolant leaking from side of engeine under lower hose housing is there a weep hole there or is it possible the housing is cracked

check for a hole in the side of the block from a busted con rod .

Hose ? The drain valve on the lower radiator ? The water pump has what's called a weep hole built into it. When the water pump fails water weeps out of that little hole to let you know it's bad. I think the ion probably has the water pump onth the front of the engine under the plastic cover ? ( not sure on that ) if it is the water will leak from behind that plastic cover making it look like its coming from the area where the oil pan and that plastic meet. It could get blown around by the cooling fan making it look a lot worse that it is. Check the lower hose and all the other coolant hoses for cracks or leaks as well as the entire radiator area ( sides, top, bottom ) check your rad cap when its cool and be sure the rubber seal on the inside of the cap is good and not cracked or dry rotted. If it is then when the water gets hot and pressure builds in the rad it will leak. When its cold it may not.

The hole you are describing sounds to be the wheap hole for the water pump
years ago the first time i had that issue it drove me nuts to figure it out .. btw not really a job to take on by yourself as it is a chain driven motor, also make sure you are prepared to pay more than the mechanic tells you as it is common to have to change the chain tensioner after this repair (when they collapse the hydrolic unit alot of times they will not "re-inflate")

check the carpet under the heater core in the interior. Check the radiator overflow bottle--sometimes they get a small crack at the bottom and weep out coolant. Check for any heater hose or other coolant hose clamp to be weeping coolant onto hot exhaust parts. The coolant will evaporate and you'll never see a puddle. The best time to check is just after engine shut down when coolant temp and pressure is highest.

If it's leaking from center front of engine compartment it's likely to be waterpump. Waterpumps have a small hole called weep hole for early warning when waterpump seal fails leaks coolant into bearing.

HI, The easiest way to find a cooling system leak to preform a pressure test. This test requires the use of some special equipment so I will just give you some common areas of these engines that leak. 1. check the upper radiator hose at the radiator. the plastic tank cracks sometimes. 2. check around the thermostat housing. 3. The worse for last there is a coolant passage tube that runs under the intake manifold almost impossible to see without taking things apart. but when it leaks the coolant seems to show up n the floor on the passenger side back by the firewall. I hope these help and you can locate the problem. Be careful when looking for these problems when the engine is hot you can get burnt. Good luck

also check bottom hose to water pump..
could also be the radiator itself depending on where the leak is

water pump failure, water pump on these run off the timing chain and the timing chain runs in oil, so they could not just put a weep hole on the pump because it would go strait to the oil pan, instead they redirected the coolant from the leaking pump to just below the thermostat housing. And good luck, it's at least a 6 hour job on these. Brandon-MO

really this could be one of several issues, does the vehicle run Hot, are you having to fill the reservoir with water or coolant, there is a hose that runs from the cap (overflow hose) to the reservoir, in addition to the upper and lower hoses, finally the water pump. the water pump is equipped with weep holes, which allow fluid to weep out when the pump is bad. finally the thermostat, hopefully one of these can solve your issue, good luck!

Check the radiator and hoses for leaks. Also, look at the water pump and see if any coolant is leaking out of the vent or "weep" hole. If coolant is leaking from the weep hole, the water pump is defective and will need replaced. When checking hoses, look for cracks and leaks, especially around the hose clamps. Hope this helped and best wishes.