help: Coolant leak (pic's inside), cant pinpoint..
 

hey guys, replaceing my alternator, i noticed a coolant leak, pressure tested the system. and this is what i got. pics to follow, cant tell if its the seals, because the cover is not leaking its coming from what i believe a hole or something.the cover over the pump doesnt seem to be leaking though. possible timing cover, maybe thanks, for the help.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...5/DSCF9597.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...5/DSCF9599.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...5/DSCF9596.jpg

here are the pics, shoot me some ideas, more than likely its the pump seals. but thought i would post up and share.

have you tried cleaning it up? that might help you be able to pinpoint where it is if things are cleaned up.

I think you are right about the pump seal

1+ on the seal on the water pump, I would clean It and check It out again.

yeah doing that now, i just snapped some pics for quick ref..im thinking possibly just replacing the seals, or would it be best to replace the pump and all. car has never heated, and the leak that is in the pic's is because i still have pressure on the system from the tester.

pretty sure its the water pump seal. had that same problem on two of my max

did you fix it yourself?? im pretty machanical inclined, however after fixing other people problems all day, im tempted to take this to someone else.

I did mine last fall. Its tight, and it takes time, but it is doable. Give yourself 12 hours to do it.

oh yeah, the old seal was hard as a rock. I did the wp and that timing chain tensioner in one shot.

I think I've got a WP seal leak too but I cant locate where its coming from for the life of me. I was an idiot to not replace the seals and water pump when I did my motor swap. I want to just hold off and find enough excuses to pull the motor to replace it at that time.

When my water pump blew it leaked exactly this way, but was constant. I vote seal as well.

The wp is behind the timing cover. The leak is seems to come from nowhere.

Why pull the motor? It's quite doable in the car.

I'm terrified that the chain is going to somehow skip a tooth or something weird like that. I didnt replace any of the tensioners or chain when I did my swap and they had 140k on them so I'm kind of worried I might need to replace those before it bites me in the ***.

Id say its the water pump seal leaking out of the weep hole. It directs coolant out from between the timing chain cover and the engine block.

thats one of my fears, aswell, but i t hink im still going to give it a shot. My car has 207 on the odo. and other than this issue its doing fine. Going to replace pump and tensioner.

update: hey all, got the pump in an out today.. and ill tell you that wasnt for the fait at heart. kinda tight..really tight, anywho after start up, my tensioner is makeing a horrid sound, but it was expected, thing is , its not going away been about 30 minutes or so i shut it off then restarted still same thing. is it possible to have a bad tensioner??

with 207k on the clock, the rattle may or may no go away. but those things can be noisey even with less mileage. mine rattled less & less over a few weeks with just over 100k a couple of years ago. it finally got quiet. sometimes if you rev it a little, it may help get the oil pressure up enough in the tensioner to quiet it right away.

yeah, its gone now, found out part of the problem, coolant was also leaking fromt he inlet right insde my alternator.

haha oh yea wata pump, just fixed it on mine about 2 months ago. You should look into buyin a chiltons manual, learn where parts are on your car. It will save you time and agervation actually knowing wheres what under the hood.