Backstory acquired this car from a friend. He was convinced that his water pump had failed and the frustration of not being able to complete the job drove him to the point of quitting and buying a new 4th gen.

After many hours from lots of frustration I completed the water pump all the way from pulling the broken flange old pump out to putting the new one in, losing a screw down the timing chain cover in the process, pulling oil pan so on so forth. Timing tensioner, rtv, coolant, oil, oil filter.

After dealing with the notorious ground issue I was finally able to get the car running today. Mind you I spent my day yesterday siphoning old gas and busting knuckles. After running the car for awhile today I noticed a coolant leak coming somewhere near the exhaust manifold it was getting dark and I haven't had a chance to climb under. Smoke from the exhaust was negligible however there is a small tinge of white. The car has sat for 2 years and I expected some stuff to burn off.

But my question becomes what could be leaking coolant above the exhaust manifold? I noticed a hole in a radiator but the leak underneath the car started leaking before the car was up to temperature so I don't think that it was leaking from the hole in the top left of the radiator all the way down into the exhaust manifold. 95 forth gen Maxima any pointers would be much appreciated, this is my first go-around with Nissan automobiles.

 

Front or rear exhaust manifold? There is a coolant line that services your throttle body that could be leaking if it's your rear manifold. Consider a cooling system pressure tester through a loan-a-tool program at your local parts house to aid in trouble shooting if you can't find the source(s) of your leak.

 

All I can sry for now is the leak is roughly middle of the car a foot or two back from the front of car. The pressure test is not going to be too well with there being a hole in the radiator. I cannot see a leak from the top side of the engine. I don't think it was coming from the throttle body housing, something worth looking, I will post a picture when I get home from work and maybe that can lead to some more ideas.

 

https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...ml#post9102776

this would be beneficial in helping your problem.

 

Second question when I was reinstalling the waterpump the third and bottom bolt was beginning to cross thread it grabs but that won't synch, is there a possibility that that seal is a microfraction off and that's causing my coolant leak?

 

If the two bolts opposite from each other are torqued properly, they seem to do most if the work. You could buy a tap with the same thread diameter and pitch. Tapping the hole will restore the original threading.

Did you lube the o rings and the sides of the hole which the pump lives in? Failure to do that can make the o ring catch , then deform. This could cause leaks.

I discovered that the original o ring had fused and sort of welded it's self on to the sides of the well the pump lives in. I had to scrape the rubber off with a razor blade and some sanding.

 

I did lube the coolant side ring with coolant as recommended.

However I did not use any other lubricants on the metal surfaces I will admit that getting in and out of that hole a few times was hell because it only goes in a certain way and it's tight clearance. I'm not even certain the soft aluminum core isn't damaged because like I said my friend before me I went through hell trying to pull it out without removing the timing tensioner and so much so broke the top and bottom flange. Now my two bolts opposite each other are not the ones that torque. It's the top and side bolt and the bottom one spins. I was doubtful that the pump would rest on the timing chain properly if it was not installed all the way but the more I think about it that timing chain probably has play either way.

I Did not get a chance to get underneath the car today and diagnose if the coolant is leaking from wherever this weep hole is. I have have a die grinder that I could in theory try and drill threads however keeping that thing stable seems not possible. My next thought was to match the length of the original 7 Bolt with perhaps a a stronger metal coarse threaded lag bolts a little bit bigger in diameter and loosen the other two bolts and sequentially tighten them altogether assuming it is leaking from here. I did Tighten the 3 bolts kind of in a star pattern.

If I have time tomorrow I will post some pictures and maybe collectively as a group we can get down and get a group synopsis of what I'm dealing with

 

Inspecting the old Waterpump I don't notice any weird weird issues with the original gasket.

 

Thank you

 

I didn't realize that a tap was a hand spinning tool. My next question is does it tap to a bigger size? When I removed the partially stripped bolt I noticed aluminum threads inside the bolt from the Block itself

 

No, a tap of the same thread size and pitch will not make the hole bigger. If you need to move up a size then you will need the appropriate drill bit to start and then the tap after for the new bolt's size. If you end up going that route consider a product like Timesert as a thread repairing solution. Try the right sized tap first coated with heavy oil to catch as many metal shavings as possible. Who tries to replace a water pump in these engines without slacking the timing chain. It' a PITA enough with the chain slacked.

 

The kid was far from a mechanic lol.. emphasis on FAR

 

The tap is intended to restore the original threads so that the bolt will go in properly.

 

welp unfortunately i found the source of the coolant leak.

the only question remaining is there any sense in rtving or jbwelding this crack for a temporary fix? naturally i know this will make some cringe but im not rebuilding a race car here... looking for a temporary driver...

this is from the undercarriage looking up.

if you notice there is a thin crack in the aluminum block.

thanks in advance........

Note... The bottom of these pictures is the front of the car

 

You can try anything neither of those two will make your situation worse. Can you access the crack so it could be welded.?

 

It looks like if I remove thethe front engine mount I can get my hand up in there well I can already get my hand up in there but if I remove the front engine mount, i have a little bit of room to play with. the thing is is that its a cylindrical crack... so close to the mouth of whatever it's plugged into that it almost seems like I could just break the whole thing off and extend some kind of grommet.. I need names for where those cracks are and what it's plugged into because I'm not a welder but I'm sure I could talk to a shop.