Coolant leak help......w/pics

ebk06 · Aug 10, 2009

I knew I had been losing a bit of coolant over the last few days but on the way home I noticed the temp gauge go sky high. I pull over and luckily have a gallon of antifreeze with me so I pour it in the overflow tank and sut the car down for 10 minutes. When I look under the hood I see fluid coming out of the timing chain cover gasket.

Now I need help here. I didnt think coolant should come out of that gasket? As you can see though it appeared to be boiling right out so I must be wrong? Opinions?

View attachment 249107

mc0311grunt · Aug 10, 2009

i had the same problem on my car. It was leaking out of the camshaft cover. Looks like it's time for a new gasket. Also check your water pump bolts.

mob · Aug 10, 2009

Could you actually see the coolant coming out or was it just sitting on the timing cover. That looks like a lower intake gasket. Coolant does flow through the timing over into the block but thats a weird spot.

EDIT: I think I can see a bubble in between the block and cover, you will probabl have to rip off the cover. Its not too bad, you take off the fan, water pump, and few bolts around the timing cover and thats it. Oh and the accessories on the head. MAKE SURE you label all the bolts so you know where they go because they are not all the same, and MAKE SURE you change the water pump. They are so cheap and disposable you do not want to put your old one on there. I would also change t-stat and hoses.

ebk06 · Aug 10, 2009

mob said:
Could you actually see the coolant coming out or was it just sitting on the timing cover. That looks like a lower intake gasket. Coolant does flow through the timing over into the block but thats a weird spot.

EDIT: I think I can see a bubble in between the block and cover, you will probabl have to rip off the cover. Its not too bad, you take off the fan, water pump, and few bolts around the timing cover and thats it. Oh and the accessories on the head. MAKE SURE you label all the bolts so you know where they go because they are not all the same, and MAKE SURE you change the water pump. They are so cheap and disposable you do not want to put your old one on there. I would also change t-stat and hoses.

You got it correct....the bubble you see is where the coolant was coming from. I should have marked spot on the pic before I posted it. I replaced the w/p last summer so I kind of know what im in for. I had the timing chain replaced about 3 years ago so it kind of sucks the gasket already went bad. The t-stat was replaced at the same time and I replaced every vacuum,radiator,heater hose last summer so they should still be good but ill inspect them again.

When replacing the gasket does the distributor have to be removed or the balancer?

mob · Aug 10, 2009

You can leave the dizzy in, you have the pull the balancer, to get the timing cover off. That's not hard though, just rent a harmonic balancer puller from advance, or autozone. Just make sure you have a 1/2" torque wrench, I like to put a little bit of white lithium grease on the spout when I put it back on, so it just slides on and you can push it back in by just torquing the bolt down. If you buy a timing cover kit from a parts store it should come with all the gasket you'll need, (oil pan corners, wp gaskets, cover gasket, and a new timing cover seal.) When you pull the cover off try not to get anything in the oil too.

ebk06 · Aug 10, 2009

thanks, i got the torque wrench but ill have to rent the puller. I guess its a good time to replace the balancer since it has never been replaced and the car is 22 years old.

4trax · Aug 27, 2009

Mine is leaking in the same spot. This will be the 3rd time i slap a new fel-pro gasket on it. WTF is causing this? I made sure I cleaned everything off very well and it looked and felt smooth. It is a new W/P. Any Ideas? Do i have to seal the bolts too? I did not think I had to, as the gasket should hold all fluid in.

mob · Aug 27, 2009

Only thing i can guess is surface on block or timing cover maybe not be flat, I would suspect timing cover. are you using silicone? Is it the timing cover-block gasket or w/p-timing cover gasket you are talking about.

phutch11 · Aug 27, 2009

4trax,

There is a weep hole in the back of the water pump (as you look at it from the front of the car) that can leak coolant right where you are seeing it pool up. The hole is actually probably submerged in your pool there..

I have had this problem before with several FSBs and have always been told that its the water pump shaft *****ting the bed. Replacing the WP has worked every time; gaskets won't solve the problem.

I believe the OP has a completely different issue.

Good luck...

89stang1 · Aug 28, 2009

phutch11 said:
4trax,

There is a weep hole in the back of the water pump (as you look at it from the front of the car) that can leak coolant right where you are seeing it pool up. The hole is actually probably submerged in your pool there..

I have had this problem before with several FSBs and have always been told that its the water pump shaft *****ting the bed. Replacing the WP has worked every time; gaskets won't solve the problem.

I believe the OP has a completely different issue.

Good luck...

phutch11 is right it will pool in that spot when coming out the weep hole, i dont know if its the wrong thing to do on my old motor i got tired of it so i put some sealer to block the hole it worked ..............4trax yes i had to put some rtv sealer on my bolts.

4trax · Aug 28, 2009

phutch11 said:
4trax,

There is a weep hole in the back of the water pump (as you look at it from the front of the car) that can leak coolant right where you are seeing it pool up. The hole is actually probably submerged in your pool there..

I have had this problem before with several FSBs and have always been told that its the water pump shaft *****ting the bed. Replacing the WP has worked every time; gaskets won't solve the problem.

I believe the OP has a completely different issue.

Good luck...

This is a brand new water pump.

ebk06 · Aug 28, 2009

4trax said:
Mine is leaking in the same spot. This will be the 3rd time i slap a new fel-pro gasket on it. WTF is causing this? I made sure I cleaned everything off very well and it looked and felt smooth. It is a new W/P. Any Ideas? Do i have to seal the bolts too? I did not think I had to, as the gasket should hold all fluid in.

From your other posts it sounds like the waterpump keeps failing. My leak was actually the timing cover gasket.

If you keep replacing the w/p the cause may be a bad fan clutch or messed up fan. If either are bad it will cause the w/p shaft to wobble and the bearing will fail.

4trax · Aug 28, 2009

ebk06 said:
From your other posts it sounds like the waterpump keeps failing. My leak was actually the timing cover gasket.

If you keep replacing the w/p the cause may be a bad fan clutch or messed up fan. If either are bad it will cause the w/p shaft to wobble and the bearing will fail.

It's not the W/P, cause it started leaking through those little holes in timing cover into those little valleys. Right away when the W/P was new.

Mike in Texas · Aug 28, 2009

Leak

Another possibility is the lower intake gasket.

Sorry Mob, I didn't see that you said intake also. It's what caused my leak in the same place.

4trax · Aug 28, 2009

read below

4trax · Aug 28, 2009

Mike in Texas said:
Another possibility is the lower intake gasket.

Sorry Mob, I didn't see that you said intake also. It's what caused my leak in the same place.

It is not coming from the intake. It is coming from those 2 holes on the front of the timing cover but on the back side of W/P. If that makes sense LOL. If you click on the pic I posted it will become bigger. You will see a little bit of orange stuff coming from the hole on driverside. That is RTV gasket maker. I was trying to plug the holes up.

ebk06 · Aug 30, 2009

Thats a weird spot for a leak if its not the timing cover gasket. Its possible the timing cover is cracked......those things are fragile. I found out the hard way lol. If I were you I'd get a radiator pressure tester so you can pressurize the system with the car off and see where the fluid is coming from. That will be the easiest/quickest way to figure it out.

93 LX · Aug 30, 2009

4trax said:

Looks great but maybe something should be done with the plug wires.. Just a observation.... sorry if I offend....

4trax · Aug 30, 2009

93 LX said:
Looks great but maybe something should be done with the plug wires.. Just a observation.... sorry if I offend....

No offense taken, what were you thinking? You have any ideas? I would like them to be tighter and more out of the way something like this.

90mustangGT · Aug 30, 2009

Timing cover and a coolant leak??? I'm betting on a lower intake gasket leak based on the picture.

Coolant leak help......w/pics

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