Leaking coolant.. :S

Damo · 05-07-2005, 10:43 PM

G'day,

Tonight on the way home from work I was giving the car a bit of sh!t (nothing new) anyways i'll cut to the chase. The car threw the P/S belt @ 5500 rpm, yeah that'll do it. :P I only had about 2 k's to get home, so i just drove it, got home fine. Put P/S belt back on tensioned it up and was about to go inside for a cold one, well actually my second cold one, when i smelt something a bit funny.

:

So I take a peak under the front of the car and what am I confronted with...

A nice big puddle of coolant.

Yummy.

: Sooooo, I do a bit of investigating

: and tighten the big hose on the water pump thingo :P top up the resovoir with water, and start her back up (by this stage it had leaked about 1 litre and had eventually stopped). No more leak, hmm, so i rev her a bit and leave it running for a while then shut the car off again. Look underneith no more leak.

About 30 seconds later just as i'm about to head back inside, i hear a slight dripping noise

: it's leaking again. Ok now i'm starting to drag this out, I can't find exactly where it is leaking from but it's somewhere inbetween the P/S pump and the alternater in that region near the block, I just cant pinpoint it.

I was talking to axedan in IRC and he suggested maybe it's the water pump seal, I was thinking the headgasket was gone or some crap like that. I like to be negative. There is no milky oil cap, it's not leaking from any of the hoses, or the overflow, the car hasn been running normal, no overheating or anything weird.

Anyone got any ideas ? It's not leaking at present it eventually stoppped again after a while. Is there something obvious i'm missing or havn't checked right. Any help would be appreciated as i'd rather not take it to a radiater place, since I don't want to spend anymore uneccessary money on this car.

Thanks in advance, BTW if you need me to describe sh!t better in order for you to help me diagnose the probem them let me know and i'll try my best. :P

Thanks in advance, Cheers,

Damian

InitialD · 05-07-2005, 10:56 PM

Damo, sounds like the waterpump gasket has gone.

and buy a new belt ;)

LUXO_8 · 05-07-2005, 11:03 PM

thats an odd one...
from memory of my ea, dont they have like that metal heater pipe from the pump, that goes along the side of the block and around the back to the heater hoses?
that isnt coroded is it?

pulling at straws i know but yeh.....

ratter · 05-07-2005, 11:03 PM

Sounds like the water pump, headgaskets leaking externally do not leak that quick, a headgasket will not allways leave the milky look to the oil cap, only if the coolant is leaking into the oil system.

Take it to somebody with a pressure tester and get them to test it

Damo · 05-07-2005, 11:03 PM

cheers Mick. I was hoping it would be something simple like that. I like that picture I took, the drips look mad.

Meh, I don't need a new belt. :P This top cog has come off a few times, including the Bundoora 'after meet' and it's still fine. ;)

Thanks.

neb · 05-07-2005, 11:31 PM

yeah i'd say waterpump gasket or bottom radiator hose has split

TURBO_GHIA · 05-07-2005, 11:38 PM

def water pump

Damo · 05-07-2005, 11:46 PM

yeah, thinking about it a bit more, it would make sence that it's the water pump gasket. I'll get a new gasket tommorrow. Hopefully once I start pulling it apart it will be obvious anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

mcflux · 06-07-2005, 05:50 PM

So how'd you go mate?

Damo · 06-07-2005, 05:59 PM

just got home from work, picked up a gasket on the way home, $3.85. Hopefully this is what the problem is.

Gunna go start pulling it apart soon, i'll let the car cool down a bit first. I hope it's an easy job to do.

EA2BA · 06-07-2005, 06:11 PM

Easy job. yeah sure is, remove the clutch fan for a start, then just after you get over that joy, remove the bolts on the water pump pulley, now having achieved that and feeling totaly drained of energy from effort, the alternator, p/s pump and all the belts have to off, having finally done that, remove said water pump and replace the gasket, hope it doesnt leak

Damo · 06-07-2005, 06:27 PM

oh ok, stuff that for a joke.

:

I just lost motivation big time, Mick told me it was easy lol

:

:. I've never even removed the clutch fan and I don't think I have a spanner to fit it. It's 32mm yeah ? Also can someone tell me as I think i've read a few times that it's a reverse thread ? So i would need to push spanner towards the airbox side to get it undone..

I think i'll just top it up with water, untill friday arvo when I atleast finish work a bit earlier. Oh and i'll need a big spanner, might as well get belt or two, and degrease the sh!t out of everything while i have all that stuff off. :hihi: Thanks Jason, now i don't have to get my hands dirty for nothing, as i wouldn't have been able to do all that tonight.

Psycho Chicken · 06-07-2005, 06:31 PM

That's a hell of a lot of water for a leaking water pump.

Mine was leaking in the EB, not that bad, I just kept topping it up. Wait, my XD radiator is leaking and I just keep topping it up!

If you need to borrow the spanner I've got it

4.9 EF Futura · 06-07-2005, 06:35 PM

Are you sure its not the water pump iself? Was the pump very noisy? When the seal goes on them, coolant gets to the bearing... coolant + bearing = shagged bearing. But evidence of busted pump would be coolant leaking from the casting/drainage holes in the front of the pump.

It would just suck if you had all that off, the pump off for a new gasket, put all back together only to realise it was pump itself...

Also when assembling, remember that gasket dressing wont cure properly with coolant in the system. Run it on water, bring it up to temp so the sealant cures properly... then drain and put the good green stuff in.

LUXO_8 · 06-07-2005, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4.9 EF Futura

Also when assembling, remember that gasket dressing wont cure properly with coolant in the system. Run it on water, bring it up to temp so the sealant cures properly... then drain and put the good green stuff in.

gee i didnt know that one....

maybe thats why i get an extremely slight drip from around the gasket every now and then..

Racecraft · 06-07-2005, 06:59 PM

i agree 100%, i'd be replacing the whole assembly... pump and gasket not just the gasket

Damo · 06-07-2005, 07:30 PM

ahh some good advice here guys. I would be shattered if I replaced the pump gasket only to find it's the pump itself, which is probably likely. :(

Anyone know how much a new water pump is and where would be the best place to get one ? would one from a wrecker do the job ? I don't really wanna spend much money on it, as i'm upgrading the car as soon as I find one I want.

4.9- Thanks for the tip, i guess i'll need some more coolant too.

Rob- Thanks for the offer, but it's a fair trek out to your place just to borrow a spanner. I could do with a decent set anyways.

It's gunna be another expensive and messy weekend for me. :( It's bloody one thing after another with this car, i'm soo over it. :/
Thanks for the help guys,

Damo.

Psycho Chicken · 06-07-2005, 07:35 PM

Don't get a second hand pump, it's not worth it. After market pumps can be had for well under $60.

And yeah I know I'm a hike and a half, work in Glen Waverley though if you need it. It cost me $25 and I've used it once.

galapogos01 · 06-07-2005, 07:46 PM

aftermarket pumps are shizen. i went through 3 bursons ones on my EA before i said this and asked for my cash back. my time is worth more than that.

changing the pump isnt that hard, biggest obstacle is getting the fan off. from there its 4 bolts and a hose clamp.

sphell · 06-07-2005, 07:59 PM

hey damo if you want one of those big spanners go down to that bargain center just up from Etheridge Ford (towards Smorgy's) on Maroondah Hwy. He has heaps of mega cheap tools.

I had one but Karl pinched it!! :P

NZ · 07-07-2005, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sphell

hey damo if you want one of those big spanners go down to that bargain center just up from Etheridge Ford (towards Smorgy's) on Maroondah Hwy. He has heaps of mega cheap tools.

I had one but Karl pinched it!! :P

Yeah and it was still too small for my fan clutch nut! (v8 is 36mm)

Damo · 06-07-2005, 11:00 PM

Yeah I know the place Doug.

Sik!

I'm just gunna get an aftermarket style pump from Bursons or supercheap, should do the job.

EA2BA · 07-07-2005, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Thanks Jason, now i don't have to get my hands dirty for nothing, as i wouldn't have been able to do all that tonight.

No worries, better to know what ya up for then find out later, if you are going to pull off and clean everything, the a/c idler pulley plate at the bottom uses an allen key to hold it in place.

TURBO_GHIA · 07-07-2005, 01:39 PM

a new pumps is about $80 i think

SileNceR · 07-07-2005, 07:28 PM

i had a hose with cracks in it confuse me for a fair while, didnt appear to be dripping (cos it was dripping into the alternator) but when u drove it was making the belts slip (more revs = spray = slippage)

took me a while to work that out..

Damo · 07-07-2005, 07:47 PM

it leaks about 1 litre for every 20-25 min drive. I got a new pump tonight and some coolant, I hope it is just the pump.

Still need to get a spanner, I found a set of 6mm- 32mm about 20 spanners for $50 so i might lash out and get those. Also need to get a new alternater belt :( I hate spending money on this car.. :(

LUXO_8 · 07-07-2005, 07:52 PM

if you havent already do your top and bottom radiator hoses at the same time....

if you dont, they will go in no time with he new pump
(been there done that)

Damo · 12-07-2005, 08:01 PM

replaced my pump on the weekend and it's all good now. Though I still got a very small leak from somewhere. :( I think it's the heater hose on the pump or something.

Does anyone know if I can get some kind of sealant for it ?

Cheers.

galapogos01 · 12-07-2005, 09:10 PM

loads of black silastic, new oring if you really want to be anal about it.

problem is, you need to take the pump off to fix it.

crannersEL · 11-04-2006, 11:33 PM

Ive spoken to Damo about a case that ive got on my hands atm, he believes it could be a heater hose on my EL, how mucn money and time am i looking at to replace this heater hose??

Thanks Paul