A steam/water leak, ea81.

[Fox]

Hi.

 

Been through trials and tribulations with this soob.. She's a great car though, when she runs.

 

Long story short, I blew both head gaskets (was expected), I replaced said gaskets and found a steam leak somwhere.. Its on the passenger side (looking at the engine, RHS, Austalian car) and just beneath the starter motor from what I can tell. Water drips from the bracket underneath the starter motor. I cant tell if its from the head, but I dont think so now, it might be from the water pipe under there, but doesnt look to be. Is there any known leaky spot under there that could be doing this?

I used chemweld and slowed it down a lot, at least its driveable at the moment. (Did not like putting that gunk in my engine!)

 

Thanks for any help..

 

~Foxy

[GeneralDisorder]

Maybe you could take a picture? Not being familair with the layout of the RHD cars I'm not sure what would be located in that area. That's the general area of the heater core hoses here in the land of LHD, but I don't know what your's looks like....

 

GD

[markjw]

If you put some kind of block sealer in there and it worked ( I use the word worked very loosly here) than I would think its gotta be a small leak. I guess that stuff would seal up a cracked,external water line,but I would think its prolly something else. Cracked head? Did you have the heads pressure tested when you did the head gasket job?

 

 

 

How did the valve adjustment go? Sounds like your at least driving it now.

[Fox]

The block sealer stopped the water all leaking out when cold, but when hot it tends to drain the radiator if I drive for too long. I am going to pull all the hoses off and have a look, see if theres a split in one.

 

Its a very very awkward place, I cant get any tools under there properly and theres hardly any space, the hose/s I suspect are between the head and the starter motor, near the main body of the PCV hoses. There is a vertical hose that runs down into a small elbow joint where another hose joins on, I think by memory that goes into the engine. It carries water none the less. I suspect the softer it gets, the more it leaks. Small trips the car barely dribbles.. the hotter it gets, the faster it leaks.

 

Ill try to take some photos tomorrow in daylight.

 

Oh, it hasnt been pressure tested yet, I only managed to re-register her yesterday.

I think my firing order is off, I had to swap 1+2, which means they are slightly out of whack. Im going to redo the drivers side, which is tapping a bit, perfectly driveable but gets loud.

 

Next, after the valves, an engine flush (Probably use a few flushes of diesel/oil) a new oil filter and a semi synthetic engine oil. Oh, and new brakes.. Bit of a hiss when I slow down from the back end.

Edited September 4, 2009 by Fox
Added info

[markjw]

Hopefully it is just a hose. Yeah,some pics would be helpful.

[Fox]

Well, some good news for a change. I found a split hose, I only spotted it by chance, wow it was hard to find

 

Anyway, I couldnt get original, so bought a hose for another car and modified it, its the one that runs out of the top of the water pump and back to a junction.

 

Now for the doozy, there was gunk galore inside the water pump connecting tube and surrounding hoses, looked like old rust scale, I think it was partly (at least) chemiweld.. Either way, I will keep the water pump on the rebuild list for the not too distant future.

 

So, stopped the water leak, cleaned the engine with Nulon engine cleaner, changed the filter to a purolator and put in 20/50 oil (good for this time of year) that is designed for pre 1998 cars. I want to also add a synthetic protecant to the car.

 

After a good offroad run (Soobs are unbeatable fun offroad!) I opened the radiator.. barely a hiss.. hot, but not unbearably, runs nice and cool. The needle sits a smidge below 1/2 and is easy to cool. (ran hotter with the old oil in it) The tap is a little quieter, I still need to regap the valves again. Tomorrow, when its stone cold, I will gap it again.

[markjw]

Do you have a radiator flush kit? The kind that you splice inline into one of the heater core hoses? I would be for flushing the engine cooling system and radiator and stuff.

 

You don't want or need that chemweld stuff in your engine.

 

Sounds like your doing some good work.

[Fox]

I dont have a flush yet.. I was going to be picking up a chemical one today. She used to run at about 1/4, now its a 1/4 higher, Ill be replacing the thermostat as well.

 

And thanks, Im a mechanical newbie, a computer tech myself. If it had computer problems I could fix it, but I am on new ground doing all this.

 

Thanks for all your help.. now, to regap.. :-\ again..

[Fox]

Can you normally hear the tappits a little?

 

I gapped them, theres still a slight tapping sound, enough that I can identify it, cannot hear it in the car after its warmed up a little though.

 

I did an engine flush, noticed one side of the engine has a smidge less oil than the other, so I am going to flush it again once all this is done.

[TomRhere]

You didn't say what year engine you have, but it sounds like it's an early EA-81 with solid lifters. I have one of those, and the lifters are some what noisy until the engine warms up, then she's quiet.

 

For flushing the engine out;

-for the oil system, I use Dextron Automatic Tranny Fluid (ATF). It works very good, and one can flush the manual trans with it also.

-for the cooling system, I use a flush marketed by one of the makers of anti-freeze. I also leave it in the system longer than they say to on the bottle.

 

Don't know if you have any NAPA Parts stores there. But if you do, they sell Mac's Radiator Cleanser. That is some good stuff right there. Cleans out some nasty systems with ease. I use that on vehicles with cast iron engines that the owners have neglected to properly maintain the cooling systems. Those get down right nasty....

[Fox]

Thanks for all your help

 

I flushed the cooling system, pulled out the thermostat and ran without it for a few days, running the car on and off, drained the water and replaced it, along with a new thermostat. Runs perfectly at 1/4 now, heats up when in traffic (to half) and drops rapidly afterwards.

 

Still noisy as on starting, has only happened since I replaced the head gaskets, so I know the valve gaps are out of whack. This engine used to run quieter than most new cars, Ill be seeking advice if I cant regap it properly tomorrow. Im taking the soob in for a checkup and brake service before a long 4 day relocation coming up.

 

I cant afford any failures out in the desert.

 

~Fox