Burning Coolant on Passenger Side (Underneath Pulleys)

[HazMatt]

Hi.

I havent been on here in quite sometime, due to my vehicle sitting in my garage over winter. I've pulled the SHO out of storage and I am back to square 1 with where I was when I put it up for the winter.

My car leaks coolant somewhere and burns this coolant against what I'm assuming is the engine or exhaust manifold. I've changed my water pump and tried to manually trace the leak, but I have not been successful. After about 5-10 minutes of the vehicle running, the engine will start to smoke from underneath the pulleys on the passenger side. There is a clear smell of antifreeze being burned. White smoke, clearly coolant.

My problem is, after tracing my radiator lines, replacing my water pump, etc., I cannot debug the source of this problem. The car runs great, and I'd like to get it up and going for the summer.

Unfortunately, unless I figure this problem out, I may be forced to sell my sho My family is pressuring me to fix it and get it running or get rid of it.

Please, if anyone has had this problem or a similar problem and you know of some secret tube that connects to the bottom of the engine and could possibly be leaking, let me know. A picture would be most helpful as well, considering im only moderate at my ability to repair my vehicle.

 

[msteiny]

When you did the water pump did you just do the pump itself or did you replace the housing that connects to the cross over tube?

 

[HazMatt]

I replaced just the pump itself. It disconnected from the main housing that was, what seemed to be, welded or attached to the main engine block. The piece I replaced was like half of the water pump. Just the outside piece that bolts in with the turbine fan on the inside.

 

[jelloslug]

My guess is that the crossover tube o-ring is shot. The crossover tube goes from the back side of the water pump to the back side of the thermostat housing in the "V" of the engine.

 

[HazMatt]

Isnt the back side of the water pump like practically in the engine? Or do you mean back side as in Pulley side of the water pump?

Can the housing that the water pump bolts into come off? (aka the other half of the water pump thats like attached to the engine that autozone doesnt give you when you ask for a water pump lol)

Also I'd like to add that the smoking is coming from what appears to be the bottom, passenger side of the engine. The source of the smoke is not visible, otherwise I wouldnt be on here asking for help

 

[jelloslug]

Isnt the back side of the water pump like practically in the engine? Or do you mean back side as in Pulley side of the water pump?

Can the housing that the water pump bolts into come off? (aka the other half of the water pump thats like attached to the engine that autozone doesnt give you when you ask for a water pump lol)

Also I'd like to add that the smoking is coming from what appears to be the bottom, passenger side of the engine. The source of the smoke is not visible, otherwise I wouldnt be on here asking for help

The housing unbolts from the block. Once you have it out you will see the crossover tube.

 

[HazMatt]

Yes, but is the housing the half with the pulley attached or is the housing the half that you bolt the pulley half onto?

 

[jelloslug]

Yes, but is the housing the half with the pulley attached or is the housing the half that you bolt the pulley half onto?

The half that you bolt the pully half onto.

 

[Irish Pride]

The seal on the crossover tube is a pretty heavyduty o-ring and it could be the problem, but since you say that you didnt pull the pump housing off the motor then i would venture to say its the seal behind the housing itself. When i did my last WP the little o-ring behind the housing was pretty much gone. You would have had to have loosened the bolts to get the pump off the housing and that probably loosened the seal behind it enough to cause it to start leaking.

What you need is part #ES70425 from Autozone. It has all the seals and gaskets to do the job.

Waterpump removed with the housing -

 

[notbange]

Yes, I had bought my 92 for cheap because the previous owner had a waterpump put in it, and they clearly replaced none of the o rings. It was pouring water from the lower inlet hole, as fast as you could pour it in. They had put a brand new gates belt on it too.

 

[HazMatt]

Thank you for clarifying with your picture. I did not in fact take the housing off, just the front pulley half of the water pump.

If the O ring or anything with the crossover tube is the culprit, would that leak out of sight and possibly to the bottom of the engine, hitting the exhaust manifold, thus burning from an unvisible area of my engine?

I cannot see the source of the smoke as of now. If what you say is true, in my head I'm thinking the leaking is occurring behind the housing, and out of my sight, thus going to the bottom and so on as mentioned before.

Also, IF this is the culprit, how do I go about removing the actual housing for the water pump? I remember it being a moderate job in itself to do the top half of the water pump. I dont even recall seeing anywhere to unbolt the housing itself.

If there is a tutorial thread on here for water pump housing removal and anyone has a quick link to it, that'd be a great help. I'm going to search in the mean time.

Thank you guys so much for your timely responses and in depth help information. I'll be getting to this project on Wednesday so I'll post on here what I find then between tomorrow and wednesday.

 

[Irish Pride]

I would venture to say that the leak is coming from the o-ring behind the housing. You more than likely removed all the bolts holding the housing to the motor, but just didnt pull it off. If you look at the pic i posted of the water pump you will see that all the bolts go thru the waterpump. Some of them connect the pump to the housing and some go thru the housing and connect the pump/housing to the block. I think there are 7 or 8 bolts total. Just remove the bolts and pull the housing off. There isnt anything else holding it to the motor.

With it leaking coolant like it is you might want to think about replacing the CPS while you are in there. Even if it isnt acting up i would say better safe than sorry.

 

[rubydist]

I have had them leak from each of the points that are circled in the photo that Irish Pride posted - it can leak like crazy from either or both. The good news is that the seal kit you need will have both the gasket and the o-rings that you need.

 

[itwonder]

When you changed the water pump, did you change the whole housing as shown in post #9, or just the center piece? If just the center piece, your leak is almost certainly the little o-ringthat goes behind the housing.

I've found that the best way to trace a difficult leak is to borrow a pressure tester from AA. With the system pressurized, you can look carefully for dripping or bubbling.

 

[Bob Gervais]

I've also seen the water pump housing leak from the freeze plugs. Since you need to pull it all apart anyway, it's not a bad idea to check those.

 

[HazMatt]

I have class all day today, but tomorrow I plan on going outside and starting the tear down of the pulleys to get to the pump.

I changed the water pump after the smoking happened, so i dont think I loosened anything and caused the smoking because it was happening long before I even touched the pump. I merely replaced the pump in hopes that it was the problem.

I'll keep everyone posted tomorrow on how this goes. I appreciate everyone's help, and ill be back soon with an update!

Thanks again!