Club 80-90 Forums

hi there. i took a look for this little drippy coolant leak and i found that under this part of engine that looks a bit like a radiator, with a hex drain plug in the middle, well to the right of it towards the front of the van, there's a nut. dripping off this nut was coolant. i traced it back and saw above a metal plate and above this, there's a gasket maybe 5mm thick, it seems quite a big gasket, it could be for the water pump but is it the water jacket? well on this gasket, there's crystals and coolant is coming from it.

could it be that this gasket needs the bolts tightening/nipping up a bit, how easy is this to get to, and how easy is this gasket to replace should it need replacing? any things to consider before doing this?

many thanks.

xpress wrote:hi there. i took a look for this little drippy coolant leak and i found that under this part of engine that looks a bit like a radiator, with a hex drain plug in the middle, well to the right of it towards the front of the van, there's a nut.

Hi there xpress (what is your name ?)

2 things,,
1 = tell us what engine your van has ! (flat 4 petrol, diesel, other)
2 = despite my experience with these vans, I an afraid the above description leaves me wondering what part you are looking at. I do not know what there is any part on any version of a T25 engine that looks like a radiator, sorry (unless what you are looking at is an air-cooled after-market oil cooler perhaps)

xpress wrote:I traced it back and saw above a metal plate and above this, there's a gasket maybe 5mm thick, it seems quite a big gasket, it could be for the water pump but is it the water jacket? well on this gasket, there's crystals and coolant is coming from it.

A picture would really help
The water pump gasket is not a fat 5mm thick one, just a thin paper type gasket.
If yours is a flat 4 engine, it has a big rubber gasket that runs all the way around the join from the head to the block, 1 on each side. The metal plate you mention could be the push-rod tube protection cover. if yours IS leaking from there then this is not good news for you, but let's confirm where the leak is before panicking.

xpress wrote:could it be that this gasket needs the bolts tightening/nipping up a bit, how easy is this to get to, and how easy is this gasket to replace should it need replacing? any things to consider before doing this?

How easy it is to get at, at this stage, only you can tell us, but it is rare that simply tightening up will cure it (though not impossible - depends on what is leaking and why)

Go on, take a pic and let us see what is leaking

it's a flat four, 1.9 petrol boxer. it's tired and old, but no tappet noise and it pulls really well. it has oil seal leakage and needs a bit of oil to keep going, but nothing too bad to write about as of now. here is a picture of the coolant from the gasket. you can see it crystallising around this gasket. and some drips around the edge of the plate. it's running off, there's a slope and it's running off towards the front of the panel underneath there. it could still run, but would need topping up and keeping an eye on. it's doing a little puddle the size of a couple 10p coins once a day. this is when it's not being run. the engine has been left standing for months but it has xtream red in there.

the other thing, is that the engine rattles like a rattlesnake and i am not sure how well it is mounted to the engine bay. this is why i thought that a bolt may have worked loose. the engine definitely needs to be looked at in terms of mounting to the engine bay. it looks like the original engine. it's a relic for sure and looks like it's nearing the need for a seal rebuild at the very least.

however could i get away with some k seal at the moment and some oil stop leak until i can tear down and rebuild at a later stage?

here's some pics. (i can't upload at the moment, board attachment quota has been reached).

xpress wrote: here's some pics. (i can't upload at the moment, board attachment quota has been reached).

not found the wiki up there ^ then???