coolant leak

[Mikey]

Well it's November now and up here in the great white north the days are shorter and cooler. Although we have experienced an absolutely glorious autumn season, the nightime temperature is now around -5 C and soon to be much, much colder. Anyway, I tucked my 'wedgie' in for the winter on Saturday last, and after adding fuel conditioner and running her for several minutes I noticed a coolant leak. Upon closer inspection the leak was coming from the slot cut into the engine block adjacent to the water pump. What is this telling me? I ran 1000+ kms. this summer with no cooling problems. Is this an early symptom of water pump problems or something innocent? The area of the engine block described above has a rather conspicuous whitish stain on it as well...as if this leak may have been occuring while out driving. I keep an eye on all fluid levels and the coolant level in the expansion tank always seemed proper. Any thoughts?

[FI Spyder]

Sounds like water pump rebuild time.

[jclay (RIP 2018)]

Yep! Me too!

Have fun, drive fast & safe, be kewl,

jclay

[John Clancy]

The slot? Is this in the inlet manifold area? Perhaps think along the lines of that pesky 'o' ring that seals the thermostat housing part of the inlet onto the cylinder head. Those 'o' rings don't last forever.

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[jclay (RIP 2018)]

In the block just below the water pump cover.

Have fun, drive fast & safe, be kewl,

jclay

[Beans]

If it's this slot were the coolant is coming from, you have a waterpump leak ...



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[Hasbeen]

Mikey, your a lucky bloke. Most people would have found that coolant
leak when they pulled the car out of hibernation. Now you have
something "interesting" to do over winter.

I'm even luckier. I found a little coolant in my drip tray the other
day. Fortunately it was just a matter of tightening the hose clamps
on the new radiator hoses I fitted a couple of months ago, to fix it.

Hasbeen

[Jolyon39]

I am even luckier.

My radiator sprung a big leak on the way home from the annual TR Rgister weekend. We had to travel about 400Km home and when I stopped for a break, about 100K from home, water started to pour out. My partner said "What is all that green water" because there was so much to see.

The lucky part is that acros the road from the food stop was a big auto parts store..... Lots of stop leak, several stops to keep the radiator tip top and I was home.

What would I have done if it blew 20+Km's from the nearest town?

Oh, another TR blew its brake master cylinder on the way home from that event and a TR3 snapped his crank.

Jolyon

[Mikey]

Thanks for your responses. As I do not have a heated work area, I can look forward to replacing my water pump in spring '08. I will use the long, dark winter nights to bone up on this procedure in front of my nice warm fireplace. I purchased a new water pump a while back from V.B. in anticipation of this eventuality! It was on sale for $99 U.S. A very good price at the time according to my fellow car club members. It is in a box stamped MADE IN INDIA. Should I be concerned about the quality of this item? I only want to change this once this decade! Any thoughts? Cheers.

[Odd]

In that case you should examine every aspect of the parts in the box THOROUGHLY! Have the original in your left hand and the Repro in your right hand - and when you're satisfied they are IDENTICAL and nothing but identical - then, and only then, can you start fitting the repro part. Do this to everything in the box and you'll be fine for another year, or maybe several even... Remember it's a hard-to-get-at part you will be changing out this time...