anti-freeze leak

[northguy]

Last Sunday I replaced my fan belt around the pulleys on my 89 XT6 as the old one was worn out - lots of squealing. Everything seemed good, but the same day I noticed steam coming out from under the hood. Popped the hood and there is a small leak around the plastic timing belt cover on the left side (as you face the motor), but I can't locate a visible leak at the headgasket or anywhere else on the motor. From underneath, I can see a visible drip on the block just below the plastic cover. Any notions as to where this could be coming from? Is there anything beneath the plastic cover that could be leaking? It's more than circumstantial that the belt change and leak happened at the same time. Related issues?

[Snowman]

I've had a couple of leaks do the exact same thing on my EA82s. There isn't anything underneath the T-belt cover, aside from the headgasket of course, on that side that could leak coolant. It's most likely coming from up above and running down there. I'm not sure how the ER27 is set up, but on the EA82, it could be leaking from the thermostat housing gasket, intake manifold gasket, the upper radiator hose, the coolant thermosensor for the ECM, the temp gauge sending unit, or the little coolant jumper hose that runs from the intake manifold to the block.

 

Clean everything up really well with some brake cleaner (careful not to get too much of it on the rubber components) and observe that area while the engine is running. You can also feel around for dampness under any of those components when the engine has cooled down after a drive.

 

If you can't find the leak right away, I think I'll have to use this as an excuse to buy a cooling system pressure tester:grin: .

[northguy]

We can take a look at it in December. I found an engine hoist today for $159. It looks like it'll do the job quite nicely. Thanks for the input.

[idosubaru]

on the left side could be from the little hose underneath the alternator. that would be my first guess. remove the alternator and have a look at that hose. it's a very short piece of "C" shaped hose. check it very closely as you know, old hoses/clamps are difficult to find leaks in when they first start. be careful trying to installing regular straight hose here, i've gotten it to work but just cutting to length is not a good idea as it's such a tight curve that straight hose will crease trying to bend it that much. forget how i got mine to work, but it wasn't that tricky. removing/installing alternator can damage this hose (unlikey, but can), just the belt alone shouldn't cause any damage to it.

 

there is also the thermostat housing, look for wetness underneath. a small thermstat housing leak is very hard to see unless you look very closely and there's not much room to do that, the range of sight under the thermostat is very tight, have to be just the right level above the radiator to see under there far enough to pick out a small leak. but is easy to see under the car. there's also the hose at the thermostat, the little guy, but that should be obvious if that one is leaking.

 

also, did you add any antifreeze recently for any reason? the spark plugs each have a drain hole that feeds through behind the cover and down the front of the motor and eventually comes out under the timing belt covers where you mentioned. so if antifreeze was spilled down the plug holes, it might wind up down there.

[northguy]

Thanks for the heads up. No antifreeze added lately.