SBF 347 BPE — coolant drip

[alexmak]

I think a have a bit of coolant dripping out of this bolt, highlighted on the picture:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=152414&d=1629472365

I tightened the bold, it helped a bit, but there's still some. I don't know much about engines, but I'm kind of surprised there's anything coming out of that area at all. Taking it out, adding thread sealant and putting it back, does this sound like a reasonable plan? :)

[rthomas98]

I would check all the torques on all the bolts that hold the water pump as well. If unevenly torqued can lead to leaks. If this does not work then either your gasket tore or it rolled during assembly. Any one of these means you will need to pull off the water pump and clean the sealing area and put a new gasket w/rtv down. Below is a picture of the gasket for the SPF Ford water pumps. The fasteners pass through it. So most likely this is your issue. I would reach out to blueprint if your engine is within warranty this should be covered I would assume.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=152415&d=1629473091

[Norm B]

That is a really strange place for a coolant leak. Thread sealant is not going to help. If you look at the area where the pump meets the timing cover you will see pump, gasket, thin metal plate, another gasket then the timing cover. In order to have a leak at that location, the first gasket between the pump and the thin metal plate has to have failed. This could be the result of not being torqued correctly, improper installation or a flaw in the pumps mating surface.

Norm

[Jeff Kleiner]

As Norm said adding thread sealer to that bolt will do nothing because it's in a dry hole. The only way you'd see coolant there is if a gasket failed. Are you certain that coolant isn't dripping onto it from the upper hose right above it? Try tightening the clamp and see if anything changes. If you do end up taking the pump off there are 4 long bolts that go through the timing cover and into a coolant passage in the block---those DO require sealant.

Jeff

[Papa]

This^^^

[alexmak]

As Norm said adding thread sealer to that bolt will do nothing because it's in a dry hole. The only way you'd see coolant there is if a gasket failed. Are you certain that coolant isn't dripping onto it from the upper hose right above it? Try tightening the clamp and see if anything changes. If you do end up taking the pump off there are 4 long bolts that go through the timing cover and into a coolant passage in the block---those DO require sealant.

Jeff

Thanks! I checked and torqued all other bolts, and most of the dripping stopped, except that one place. a gasket was my next suspect, but sounds like at this point it's a primary suspect, so I'll have to replace it.

PS yes, the clamps on all hoses was the first thing I checked and tightened.

[alexmak]

That is a really strange place for a coolant leak. Thread sealant is not going to help. If you look at the area where the pump meets the timing cover you will see pump, gasket, thin metal plate, another gasket then the timing cover. In order to have a leak at that location, the first gasket between the pump and the thin metal plate has to have failed. This could be the result of not being torqued correctly, improper installation or a flaw in the pumps mating surface.

Norm

a mechanic suggested to remove the water pump and shave off chrome on the contact area, and do the new gasket. sounds like this is the way.

[Norm B]

If the back side of the pump is shiny chrome I would recommend just taking the shine off with a Scotchbrite pad or steel wool instead of trying to shave it off completely. The risk of damaging the mating surface by trying to shave the chrome off yourself is pretty high. If you can get rid of the shine and then use a good sealant between the gasket and the pump you should be fine. I use the sealant pictured.

Norm

[alexmak]

If the back side of the pump is shiny chrome I would recommend just taking the shine off with a Scotchbrite pad or steel wool instead of trying to shave it off completely. The risk of damaging the mating surface by trying to shave the chrome off yourself is pretty high. If you can get rid of the shine and then use a good sealant between the gasket and the pump you should be fine. I use the sealant pictured.

Norm

Thank you, Norm!

[BadAsp427]

FWIW, have you contacted BPE? They most likely will assist you with this problem. Perhaps send you new gaskets, sealant, etc... either way, I would contact them to open a file with them just incase it comes down to a bad water pump or timing belt housing or something unexpected. Just my $.02

[alexmak]

FWIW, have you contacted BPE? They most likely will assist you with this problem. Perhaps send you new gaskets, sealant, etc... either way, I would contact them to open a file with them just incase it comes down to a bad water pump or timing belt housing or something unexpected. Just my $.02

Makes sense, I will get in touch with them!

[johnnybgoode]

You could borrow/rent/buy a cooling system pressure test kit and pump your system up to 15lbs. and see if you can find the source of the leak. If your system holds 15 pounds overnight you should be good to go. I've been using this method to identify and resolve a number of pesky leaks over the years. Good Luck. Scott

[CraigS]

The problem I have run to is 2 fold. 1- there may be slightly less than a million gaskets for SBF water pumps. So be really, really sure you choose the right one. 2- Not an expert at all on these but the other problem I had is that the pump came w/ that sheet metal plate already attached to it w/ two bolts w/ super thin heads. The gasket between the pump housing and the plate was already there w/....NO sealer. So now what? On mine those bolts didn't really want to come out but I got them loose enough that I could get sealer in there. All in all, it seemed a pi$$ poor design, that on the 3rd try, and I felt a helping of good luck, I was able to get sealed.

[alexmak]

Surprisingly after double-checking and re-tightening all the bolts around water pump the dripping seems to have stopped - at least after yesterday’s 2 hour drive I didn’t see any. Will be doing additional checks and if still dripping - will work on the gasket replacement