The Lord giveth and taketh away...good lesson

[scrubs]

With 600 miles on the clock, I noticed droplets of fluid on the garage floor that turned out to be coolant. Inspection revealed droplet coming off the bottom of the water pump and onto the harmonic balancer. I was convinced it was the pump as I noted no leaks from any hoses (in the non-pressurized state) and started down the path this morning. I removed the hood for better access and front wheels as well. As I am pulling drivers front, noted a puddle on the floor…dripping shock. Great, insult to injury (the Lord taketh)…

192417

I had reviewed previous water pump threads and noted Papa recommending that the OP confirm the location of leak because he had replaced his pump only to later find it was a radiator issue. I whipped out my new kit and pressurized the system to 15 psi (even though cap lists 20 lbs). Sure enough the drip onto the balancer was there:


192418


But I noticed a streak along the pump body that seemed to be coming from above:


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Kept following back to find this (pump to t-stat housing):


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So the fluid was pooling, running over the edge, around the my plugged water pump outlet, down the bottom of the housing and onto the balancer. I dried everything back up, tightened the clamp and re-pressurized….dry (the Lord giveth).



I do feel like a net-positive today to just need a shock swapped. Is there a warranty on our shocks? Through FFR or do we need to go direct to Koni?

Yet another thanks to the forum for prompting me to measure twice before cutting.

Cheers all,

J

[Bill Elliott]

Glad to hear the coolant problem was easily fixed. With only 600 miles I'm sure they will take care of it. They have been very good on these issues.

[Pmieras]

Good find and good troubleshooting. Nice to see a logical process to finding and fixing your leak.

[scrubs]

I would have gone nuts after a pump replacement a d continued leak.

[gbranham]

I had a similar coolant leak on my MkIII years ago. I noticed a small puddle of coolant on the garage floor under the rear axle (yes, the rear axle). That was a huge head-scratcher. I found that I had a small leak near the coolant t-filler that dripped down onto the 4" main tube, and since my garage floor had a slight incline (or decline towards garage door), it ran down the entire length of the underside of the main tube, and deposited itself on the floor toward the rear of the car.

[scrubs]

I had a similar coolant leak on my MkIII years ago. I noticed a small puddle of coolant on the garage floor under the rear axle (yes, the rear axle). That was a huge head-scratcher. I found that I had a small leak near the coolant t-filler that dripped down onto the 4" main tube, and since my garage floor had a slight incline (or decline towards garage door), it ran down the entire length of the underside of the main tube, and deposited itself on the floor toward the rear of the car.

Damn.

I was amazed at the circuitous route this coolant to make it to 6 o'clock on the pump. That pressure testing kit was the best investment in a while. Saved me some headaches.