water leak

[CovKid]

1.9DG

I'm fairly familiar with this engine and certainly water jacket leaks but I appear to be losing water dead centre, on to engine carrier beneath crankshaft pulley. Having to shove in 2 litres a day so fairly constant drip. Plan is to remove pulley (and engine carrier) at weekend to get better access but I'm at a loss to figure out where its actually coming from given its position. Pump is fairly new and appears dry. Difficult to gain access to joined coolant pipe behind pulley until I remove it (would seem a possible source) but pipe/hose doesn't appear to be wet. Thoughts?

[slowcoach]

1.9DG

I'm fairly familiar with this engine and certainly water jacket leaks but I appear to be losing water dead centre, on to engine carrier beneath crankshaft pulley. Having to shove in 2 litres a day so fairly constant drip. Plan is to remove pulley (and engine carrier) at weekend to get better access but I'm at a loss to figure out where its actually coming from given its position. Pump is fairly new and appears dry. Difficult to gain access to joined coolant pipe behind pulley until I remove it (would seem a possible source) but pipe/hose doesn't appear to be wet. Thoughts?

Leaking when cold also?

Can you run it without pressure ie dalek cap loose or use a drilled cap, to minimise the leak pressure in the meantime?

In France right now, so just thinking out loud

[CovKid]

Seems to have a mind of its own. Came out of work today to find small puddle beneath - again dead centre. Interestingly water level never seems to drop below bottom of top hose connected to expansion tank, which would seem to indicate the leak is in that circuit. However, no leak when I got home even after I topped it up and ran it for a while. Bizarre.

I think the only thing to do is get engine carrier off and remove crankshaft pulley - see if anything becomes obvious then. I need to replace engine mounts anyway so will treat it as an adventure of wonderment

[NicBeeee]

Hi Cov,

If I have a undetectable water leak I usually try the talcum powder method particularly if its dripping overnight, at worst it will make your engine bay smell good.

Nic

[CovKid]

I notice some companies are starting to produce nice smelling motor oils and grease now too. Makes sense I suppose. You come out grimey but smelling of stawberries.

I'm beginning to wonder if the leak is some kind of weird syphoning effect rather than a genuine leak. I did discover last night that the plastic bleed screw at the back was undone. Nipped it up. No leak so far. Although I don't (and never have) got any water via that, the ingress of air may be encouraging the water to drain somewhere else. All the same I'll have a right good probe tomorrow.

[mbcamper]

I've recently needed to get access to my oil pump to check it which involved:
- Removing exhaust silencer
- Removing tinware
- supporting engine on a jack (under wood)
- removing the engine mount bar.

You can see what it looks like before removing the engine support bar here:



You can see the pipe that runs under the main pulley. Note the rubber hose to the right of the pulley. Maybe this is where your problem is? Or maybe the pipe has rusted through?

Just a thought...

[CovKid]

My guess is its the latter. Will be investigating tomorrow. Its not uncommon for steel water pipes to pinhole. I have to say, I've not seen one drip today with it sat in the yard but this probably all changes when the water is hot and pressurised.

[CovKid]

Abandoned until next weekend due to being too hot today. Will just keep topping up for a week. On the plus side I finally did battle with the gearbox mount bush (what a PIG they are to get out!) and replaced with poly bush. Seemed cooler underneath so opted for that instead

[silverbullet]

2 litres a day is a gushing leak in my book. The thing is, as the system loses water the empty top part of the engine water jacket will be full of very hot steam, which will start to erode the head studs suprisingly quickly.
If the leak is in the middle and its a late cooling system, pull the crank pulley and check the short hose on the transfer pipe. It gets ignored because its out of sight. 25mm bore iirc.

Sent from my Gizmondo

[CovKid]

Ordered some 25mm silicone pipe anyway as there a couple of places that use that internal ID. Thankfully water loss is much reduced and its only doing 6 miles a day so no prob topping up. Temperature - cool, even in traffic. Will find it though

[CovKid]

Just shows how long its taken me to tackle this job. Bought a car (Smart Car) to take the pressure off being a daily driver. Anyway, today removed bottom pulley. Two problems spotted:

1) As suspected the short hose that joins the water pipe behind pulley is indeed leaking which accounts for the central nature of the leak. Shoved a screwdriver in it to assist with draining system down today. Nothing in it except straight water so the paving is getting a nice wetting down.

2) Something amiss with engine carrier though as its damned close to bottom of pulley and belt/pulley is actually rubbing on carrier. This may well have contributed to demise of hose - can't tell until tomorrow when I remove engine carrier. Have all new mounts so hopefully its just a reassembly job once hose is replaced.

Have figured out a way to swap that hose without too much disturbing of pipe to thermostat. Will post pics if it goes to plan.

On the left, wear where pulley has been rubbing on engine carrier , Right, source of water leak.

[silverbullet]

I would guess that your engine mounts have collapsed/delaminated and thats why the pulley has been touching the carrier (engine torque reaction making it heel over)

Sent by Morse code from the bunker

[CovKid]

Seems likely Good to get in there finally anyway. Might as well do a good job and get engine carrier repainted while I'm at it. I'm hoping I can cut old hose away, remove short metal pipe on right, slide new hose on to left hand section, refit right hand pipe, then slide hose back to cover join. Should work - in theory.

Makes a change not to have to rush a job (had to when it was a daily driver). I worked out that even with what I'd paid for the car, and insurance etc, I'd still be saving. Gone from £40+ a week in fuel to under £8. Smart seems to run on fresh air in comparison and quite a fun thing to bomb around in. Don't know why I didn't do it before.

[silverbullet]

With the pulley out of the way, getting the hose and clamps fitted is a doddle.
Look after your Smart, they are known for burning out exhaust valves... find a local indie specialist for servicing, most jobs are a 'mare from what I have been told. e.g. battery is a special and under the passenger toeboard iirc

Sent by Morse code from the bunker

[CovKid]

Got Merc Doctor for backup on that score. Considering the cost, a rebuilt smart lump is a fraction of that for a T25 and this engines been well serviced. Can't see me parting it - love the auto aspect.