Water Leaks

D

dalton

Member
Just to be clear, I haven't driven this car yet. I am still in the process of putting it together.

I have a bad coolant leak that is dripping from the wishbone ball area. I filled the engine with Evapo-rust to soak. Just a few minutes later I had puddle about 10" in diameter. Where could it be coming from?
 
coolant does not drip off the wishball unless the block is cracked somewhere in the rear area or the back studs are leaking or the headgasket is leaking in the very rear area. Check out the leaking gasket or studs before you cuss at the crack.
 
You may get a better view of the rear with the toe board out.... If you see nothing look inside the inspection cover on the bell...
 
The toe board is out Mitch. I didn't see anything on the back of the engine. I even removed the throttle assembly to see if it was coming from there.

I have drained the fluid from the block so I'll remove the inspection cover fill and look again.
 
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Ken,

I hope the leak isn't a crack, but you never know. The head gasket is weeping, barely, so, because I haven't had a chance to "seat" the gasket or run Bar's or liquid glass so I'm not worried about that quite yet.
 
DJ,

It happened so fast, oatmeal would have held it. literally, by the time I set the bucket down, there was a puddle.
 
Through my initial reading I didn't pay close enough attention to detail so it sounded like you poured in the evapo-rust, walked away and hours later you returned to this large puddle you described. Without ever driving it before, it could be numerous things that have already been stated. Internal/external crack or head gasket leak.
 
Thanks DJ,

I may not have been clear about the time frame. I just hope whatever it is is repairable by me or at reasonable cost.
 
It is probably leaking somewhere at a block seam ( head or another gasket ) and lastly but hooefully not a crack, and Its following the pan or from wishbone to the rear. There's no substitute for a careful inspection from back at the leak to front to see where it comes from. I seriously doubt it's actually at the rear if the block. Look carefully with the lights at all areas, pan rails, even bottom of water pump at the head and front of block area.
I'm confident you will find it . Be methodical in you inspection and relentless to find it!

Larry Shepard
 
Larry, I have checked twice now, but will certainly check again before disassembly as I have a vested interest in you be correct!

With no external moisture on the block, except slight drips down the drivers side behind the number pad, nothing behind the block(around the throttle assembly), and nothing under the pan flange, I fear the leak is inside the flywheel housing.
 
dalton said:
Larry, I have checked twice now, but will certainly check again before disassembly as I have a vested interest in you be correct!

With no external moisture on the block, except slight drips down the drivers side behind the number pad, nothing behind the block(around the throttle assembly), and nothing under the pan flange, I fear the leak is inside the flywheel housing.
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I can't think of any way for coolant to get inside the flywheel cover. I bought an engine at an auction about 10years ago and it has a crack inside the valve chamber, so coolant can get inside the engine. But I can't see how it would get from there to the flywheel cover.
 
As an old Pipefitter, one of my most useful tools in tracking down leaks was a BRIGHT flashlight-the drops of liquid shine like diamonds when you're searching for a leak.
Did you use those original-type hose clamps? Start by checking around the inlet and outlet hoses-I've ended up replacing all my old-style clamps with worm-gear Aviation hose clamps because they seal so much better.
 
I had a water pump leak that dripped off the rear of the engine. Water will drip a long ways sometimes,from the actuAl leak. You can dry things and use Kleenex ect to follow the path, because it shows wet fast. As mentioned, check you're hoses ect.
 
Jeep44 is right. One of those small flashlights with 1" dia LED lens can do wonders for tracking down problems. Bright light and look 1 sq in at the time.
 
Did you check the oil level on the dip stick to see if the level is high? that may indicate a leak into the internals of the engine. I have never heard of anyone putting evaporust in the cooling system. Perhaps it ate through a thin spot in the block.
Maybe filling the cooling system again and watching the leak to trace back where it is coming from would help.
 
jeep44 said:
...Did you use those original-type hose clamps? Start by checking around the inlet and outlet hoses-I've ended up replacing all my old-style clamps with worm-gear Aviation hose clamps because they seal so much better.
Click to expand...

These are what I use:
 

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Guys, I will be tracking down this leak the best I can. These are all good suggestions and I will be heeding the advice.

I haven't checked the oil, so I will do that first. If in the 2 or so minutes that the evapo-rust was in the block it ate through it would have to have been so thin/already cracked that water would have done also. Because it happened almost instantly, I feel the cause of the leak was already there. Evapo-rust doesn't damage good metal. It may slightly etch the surface after a period of time.

I have looked and felt around the oil pan already with no liquid found, but will be it doing again. I like the idea of using the flashlight and the tissue paper together to double check, and will do so all around the engine.

The water pump is newly rebuilt and hasn't been run, but I'm sure I could have screwed that up! But, this is happening without the engine running so I really hope I din't mess up that bad.

Tom Wesenberg, I wonder if there is a crack in the valve chamber or elsewhere and it is filling the crankcase with water. Could it be acting like a rear main leak?

I'll check back in and report my findings when I have had a chance to perform these checks.
 
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