Coolant drip?

[widster]

Hi, I am in the process of changing my exhaust and painting underneath the car so i have been spending some time under there! I noticed a small drip of coolant coming from the bottom of the cambelt cover (sorry if terminology not correct). The car has been standing for a few weeks but i noticed that i was having to top the coolant up every so often before i took it off the road. I thought the leak might be from the water pump? Can anyone give me any advice? Thanks, Widster

[widster]

Hi, I am in the process of changing my exhaust and painting underneath the car so i have been spending some time under there! I noticed a small drip of coolant coming from the bottom of the cambelt cover (sorry if terminology not correct). The car has been standing for a few weeks but i noticed that i was having to top the coolant up every so often before i took it off the road. I thought the leak might be from the water pump? Can anyone give me any advice? Thanks, Widster

Sorry, forgot to say that i had left a small plastic tale-away container underneath where the drip is coming from and it was full when i came back a week later so not excessive but quite a lot over time.

[BIGBOBO]

Part of the waterpump is indeed behind the bottow two timing belt covers.

It's probably the water pump gasket or the O-ring on the engine block.

Water pump gasket is 5,5€ at mr T.
2,5€ for an O-ring.

Water pump itself is 80€ if I remember correctly, 50-60 from your local auto parts store.

[widster]

Thanks for the advice. Probably a silly question buut what do the 'O' rings do? Also, how many will i need to buy if it is them? I'll have a closer look as soon as i can.

[BIGBOBO]

Thanks for the advice. Probably a silly question buut what do the 'O' rings do? Also, how many will i need to buy if it is them? I'll have a closer look as soon as i can.

The water pump is made out of 2 parts, one part goes onto the engine block and the water inlet pipe. The second part contains the actual mechanism to pump the water around.

Take a look at this and you'll imeadiatly see what I'm talking about.

You"ll need two O-rings, their purpose is to prevent leaks between the water pump and engine block / water inlet hose

[Tony jinxy froude]

It could also be the very small 'O' ring that fits the small water pipe under the t-vis manifold, above the large bore pipe that goes to the rear of the water pump, it sits just below the engine lift hook at the rear of the engine to the right of No1 injector, this can become very brittle over the years & fail to seal. hope it helps, Jinxy

[widster]

Thanks for all your help. At least i know what i'm looking for now!

[widster]

Hi,

Sorry to resurrect this link but now i have worked out how to post pictures i thought i would post one to see if it shed's anymore light on what might be leaking? If you look closely you can see a small drop of water and this is where it's dripping. Please ignore the surplus primer that i have splashed around!

[Tom G]

If I use my imagination I can see a drip somewhere in the picture.
It's probably the water pump.
See here for a guide on replacement (or further examination)
http://www.padandwheels.com/mr2/waterpu ... rpump.html

[Tony jinxy froude]

Now that you have primer all over the botom pulley, thats gonna be a bu88er to time up... you'll be seeing white lines everywhere with the strobe gun

[SiH]

The drip is probably a weep from the 'tell tale' hole on the water pump - an indication that the water pump is on it's way out

[widster]

If I use my imagination I can see a drip somewhere in the picture.
It's probably the water pump.
See here for a guide on replacement (or further examination)
http://www.padandwheels.com/mr2/waterpu ... rpump.html

The drip is just right of the middle bolt. Thanks for the advice.

[widster]

Now that you have primer all over the botom pulley, thats gonna be a bu88er to time up... you'll be seeing white lines everywhere with the strobe gun

I don't have a strobe gun and wouldn't know how to use one if i did! What's it for?

[widster]

The drip is probably a weep from the 'tell tale' hole on the water pump - an indication that the water pump is on it's way out

Thanks for the advice. I suppose i'd better start saving up. At this rate the car will not see the rest of 2008 with the number of jobs i've got to do!