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Author Topic: Coolant leak from water pump hose..... :(  (Read 2356 times)

Casper

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    • 93 XR2 and 91 Turbo Clubsprint (tribute)
Coolant leak from water pump hose..... :(
« on: October 22, 2016, 05:25:38 PM »

So, i was hoping to head to the track for some spring laps today in my turbo (last race for the year) and the night before found a large leak from near the lower radiator hose coupling into the water pump.  I hadn't driven turbo for a while due to bad weather here in Adelaide (wet and cold for weeks) so I had a nice drive to give turbo a shakedown run - all good and sweet to drive - I love the boost buildup and acceleration over comparatively sluggish N/A that I have as well.  Mind you the N/A is lovely to drive as it has standard suspension - turbo has lowered harder springs and I feel every bump.....

Back to the problem - I could see the dripping onto the a/c compressor (and-or power steering) mounts but couldn't actually see the leak.  One hell of a place to try and see into - my hands are even to big to get in there much at all - thanks to my lovely wife she (isn't she the best) could get her fingers in and feel the hose.  Its only fair I just installed a push start button in her ailing V8 jeep (common ignition problem) but she is always happy to help.  We thought it was the lower radiator hose clamp but playing with that had no change in dripping at all.

Bring out the big guns - we luckily had a USB Inspection Camera (had for a number of years and never really used) - with a fair amount of poking and prodding with it we would finally see the leak is coming from the (what I think is) the heater bypass house that comes under the exhaust manifold.  I would show a photo but just about impossible to make any sense of the images.

This pipe somehow joins into water pump manifold (I assume) just before the lower radiator hose outlet pipe.  I cant see how it mounts in (i.e. force fit with O-ring or screwed joint?) but is has a gap around it and the manifold entry.  In order to fix the leak we used a fair bit of high temp silicone (the leak didn't seem to be high pressure) but I don't think we got it all the way around.
To my disappointment the leak seemed just as bad on race morning.....no joy at all.

Does anyone know about this type of problem - just trying to find out what I am up against when I pull the front of the engine apart - I want to remove the AC pump anyway and might have a look at the turbo wastegate whilst I am there.  Definitely a new larger intercooler as well.....

Any thoughts/help would be great?

Thanks

Paul
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Casper

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    • 93 XR2 and 91 Turbo Clubsprint (tribute)
Re: Coolant leak from water pump hose..... :(
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2016, 06:25:24 AM »

OK - definitely a crook O-ring at the end of this pipe - I have removed parts from the distributor end of the engine but will have to take off the exhaust manifold now to remove the pipe - I can see the end of the pipe out of the water pump end socket and can see the O-ring is very old and perished.

Time to find a new O-ring....
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Gaz

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    • 92 XR2, 01 LL Bean Outback, 92 Concours, 86 F150
    • Saint Cloud Exhaust
Re: Coolant leak from water pump hose..... :(
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2017, 11:33:29 PM »

How does one go about disconnecting the pipe from the water Outlet?
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SHOwn

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    • 91 XR2
Re: Coolant leak from water pump hose..... :(
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2017, 01:13:42 PM »

The bypass tube passes behind the exhaust manifold and uses an O-ring which slides over the blistered end of the tube (passenger side). Then i coat both the housing and the end of the tube and O-ring with coolant friendly RTV  and you have to push it into the housing. This is easiest when the exhaust manifold is out of the way, or the water pump housing is off (timing belt change), or both. You have to take one or the other off to get at this connection. Lubing up the O-Ring with RTV makes the push-in possible.

Another tip: it is possible to remove the exhaust manifold without draining the coolant. You have to push some plugged hoses onto the turbo coolant lines and when removing the exhaust manifold, you should pry gently on the bypass tube bracket that loops over the last exhaust manifold bolt so that you can gently bend it away enough to pull the manifold yet leave the bypass connected. I've had no coolant leaks this way but I've also RTV'd the heck out of that O-ring oriface, maybe that enables this without creating drips?
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R. Powell
'91 XR2, LM 16" Chrome Drifters, White Gauge Faces, Kuhmo 40's, Big Brake UG, 2.5" Mandrel Bent CATback, BMW318 Heated Seats, `94 console, '99 Dodge Neon Spoiler, '94 XR2 Sideskirts Bumpers and taillights, Fresh Basecoat-Clearcoat Cardinal Red (Jul2014), vj11/vj14 hybrid, manual boost CTL.