water/coolant dripping below engine

[syncro4us]

I Have a 1986 Syncro with a 2.1litre fuel injected engine. Ever since I bought it 4 months ago, it has used a little water sometimes none at all but mostly when it was cold and stood to rest for a few days. I couldnt find any leak on any pipe or engine part.
Then we drove to Oxford from Chester and ran at a steady 60-70mph most of the way on the motorway and back the next day. On the return the level warning light came on and the water was really low in the expansion tank so I topped it up. It ran fine and still does but in the morning there was a damp patch below the engine and sure enough water plus coolant was dripping from the engine lower cover mainly on the left hand side then onto the engine protection frame at about one drip per 4 seconds. I topped up the fluid and later in the day it misteriously stopped dripping but for how much longer I dont know, but the system seems full.
Can anyone tell me the likely cause, ( told it is the rubber water seal cylinder gasket probably) and if this is repairable or will it mean a replacement engine as these are £850 - £1200 as we are touring Europe and maybe the states next year and want a reliable engine.
Second if it needs a new engine can anyone reccomend a supplyer of very well built engines for the replacement.
Also is the clutch a standard T25 or larger one for the 4WD and what make and where should I get one as I might as well do this when the engine is out.
Please let me know info asap as I need to sort it out before we go on holiday to France in 3 weeks.

regards

Kevin[/b]

[toomanytoys]

Sounds like the normal age related problem... yes the rubber seals..
DO NOT be tempted to slap in some rad weld, it aint gonna work!!!

If you want utter reliability, then buy a gen VW exchange engine, these are cheap really.. and worth every penny of the 1200 ish quid.. Buy anything else and you could be in all sorts of trouble...
the clutch is the same as a 2wd 2.1..

You could have your engine refreshed as a "temporary" measure, then find a tired engine to put in exchange for the VW one, and sell your "refreshed" to get a bit back... but if you cant swap engines yourself, it would be better to just go the VW route I reckon...

[jed the spread]

i had the same thing with my 2.1.it ended up being the waterpump.

jed

[toomanytoys]

Good point Jed, only a thorough inspection of the engine with the pushrod overs off, will reveal the real cause, but the rubber seals on the heads is the most common..

[billy739]

take the plate off that covers the pushrod tubes,there is a core plug about 15mm diameter each side on the block,one has a drain plug for the coolant.
these can corrode through,about 35 pence eack from VAG and takes less than an hour to fix(goto drain coolant first!)
check it out first,may not be serious.

[syncro4us]

Am taking it round to the garage today as the owner was an ex VW mechanic .
Will take off the push rod covers, and protection bars. Can these be left off for short journeys?
Hope its the pump but otherwise if it needs an engine should I get the engine from VW direct or maybe other suppliers like volksspares that do one for £850
thanks for info so far

kev

[billy739]

the plate is the one under the engine not the rocker covers!just to be sure.

if you can afford vw i would go that way,just make sure you have time to drive the van for a bit before setting off to the unknown

[Mocki]

havnt had our membership number yet from 80-90 club

you membershipnumber is 2677, and it was emailed to you in june.......
i have emailed you again, let me know if you get it.

[syncro4us]

yes my poor description, should have ment protection plate under engine.
which I take can be taken off but leave the vehicle driveable.
Just checked. The van had a new VW audi engine 47,000km ago in Koln, Germany 1999, so hopefully its something less than a complete engine change, but will bear the source of a new one in mind

kev

[syncro4us]

sorry I had left the no membership line on the signature but hopefully this is deleted now, just getting used to using the forum

kev

[toomanytoys]

As I said, if you are keeping it and want utter reliability, go with the VW engine.. if it is the head seal leaking on a VW engine (the number matches then?) then it is unfortunate.. but could mean that it will all come apert easy and not need anything more than a top end re gasket... thats a major bonus...
But could just be any one of the billion connection/hoses on the engine... which will be even better...

[syncro4us]

Hi every one and thanks for the responses. Any way good news I hope. I had one more check of the water hoses and on the very top one that links the LHS cylinder to the small feed rail that goes around inside of engine bay when I wobbled the pipe hey presto a spurt of coolant came out the end. I thought I had checked all the pipes but as you all know there are a lot of joints.
Any way the old clip literally fell apart when I compressed it to remove it. It looked like it is made from bronze rather than sprung steel, looks like the metal was porous or fatigued and had snapped accorss the width.
Any way replaced with good quality jubilee clip and now no more drips and the water level is constant and doesnt budge a millimetre now so hopefully that's all there was to it, but I have bought some more jubilee clips and am ready to replace some of the other spring clips on the hoses as they dont seem to give very good service and am sure the tension is lost after several years motoring and hot and cold cycling.
So thanks again for your help

Kevin

[jed the spread]

alot cheaper than a new engine anyway

jed

[toomanytoys]

Nice one, check the little bleeding hoses too.. they are prob a bit shabby seems that the cloth covered ones dont last as long as the plain rubber...