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Need some help diagnosing what is causing my engine coolant to be leaking on my 06 TL.
If I fill my reservoir and let my car sit over night, by the morning there is a puddle underneath my car on the passenger side, almost directly below my timing belt. This just started last week.
My thought is that it's my water pump leaking, because I know its right next to my belt, but I can't see it. I had my timing belt/water pump replaced about 20k miles ago. I flushed my engine coolant about 4 months ago but I think I screwed it up and ended up leaving too much water in the system when I filled it. (NOT SURE BUT I THINK) Following the flush, nothing was leaking, however my car was almost always low on coolant no matter how often I filled it. I thought that maybe if there was too much water in the system, it was just evaporating. (if that happens)
My car is not overheating and there is no smell of burning coolant.
The only other symptom I noticed was a few weeks after doing the flush a noise started occurring from just about the location of my water pump. Not a screeching noise, but a liquid noise almost.
Could my problem be something other than the water pump? If it is the water pump can I just get the pump changed out and not do my belt again because I don't think there is anything wrong with the belt. How much would just a pump change cost me?
Any feedback would be really appreciated. And I'll just say it before anyone else does, I'm an idiot for possibly screwing the system up. I'm just looking for some helpful advice. Thanks guys
It sounds like the rubber gasket seal on the water pump isn't working. Sometimes these can get pinched or dislodged if the mechanic isn't paying attention. Unfortunately, you'll have to go back in pretty deep to replace it, basically a whole timing belt service worth of labor. While yes technically your timing belt will still be fine, I would probably replace it anyways since it has 20k miles on it. That just means you can delay your next major service by 20k more miles and timing belts are pretty cheap.
It sounds like the rubber gasket seal on the water pump isn't working. Sometimes these can get pinched or dislodged if the mechanic isn't paying attention. Unfortunately, you'll have to go back in pretty deep to replace it, basically a whole timing belt service worth of labor. While yes technically your timing belt will still be fine, I would probably replace it anyways since it has 20k miles on it. That just means you can delay your next major service by 20k more miles and timing belts are pretty cheap.
So just replacing the rubber gasket isn't enough right? If the gasket failed, that would cause the water pump to be junk even with a new gasket installed?
Is there anyway to be sure that it is the pump before I pay someone to fix it, then find out it's something else?
I'll explain this and why your gasket has failed prematurely.
Basically when doing gaskets on cars you need to properly clean the surface of where the waterpump gasket sits. If you DO NOT CLEAN this housing properly the gasket will fail and you will have to do the job all over again. Take it back to the people that did it and explain what's going on. They should fix it for free since they fucked it up. If they don't fix it properly I would look into going to to another shop.
The proper way to install these rubber gaskets is brake clean the entire surface and you emery cloth or whatever you call it to clean the housing so it's all nice for the new water pump gasket to sit on. Then use 3 dots of silicone to secure the gasket in the waterpump and then tighten the 10 mil bolts properly.
This is a pretty labor intensive job because you have to remove the timing belt and pulleys.
I'll explain this and why your gasket has failed prematurely.
Basically when doing gaskets on cars you need to properly clean the surface of where the waterpump gasket sits. If you DO NOT CLEAN this housing properly the gasket will fail and you will have to do the job all over again. Take it back to the people that did it and explain what's going on. They should fix it for free since they fucked it up. If they don't fix it properly I would look into going to to another shop.
The proper way to install these rubber gaskets is brake clean the entire surface and you emery cloth or whatever you call it to clean the housing so it's all nice for the new water pump gasket to sit on. Then use 3 dots of silicone to secure the gasket in the waterpump and then tighten the 10 mil bolts properly.
This is a pretty labor intensive job because you have to remove the timing belt and pulleys.
Get them to try and fix it first.
Unfortunately, I had a friend of a friend do the work for me and I haven't been able to get a response from him. > figures. I'm just going to bring it a local shop I know of and have them replace everything. Thanks for all the help, I appreciate it
Unfortunately, I had a friend of a friend do the work for me and I haven't been able to get a response from him. > figures. I'm just going to bring it a local shop I know of and have them replace everything. Thanks for all the help, I appreciate it
Make sure they use the OEM Gasket from the Gates kit or the dealer. Aftermarket garbage gaskets will leak after awhile.
All you need is the waterpump replaced. But also make sure that every pulley and tensioners and shit were replaced. Don't replace everything if you don't need to. Make sure it's the OE belt and tensioners and pulleys. If its a Dayco belt I recommend you change it out because they are crap.
Unfortunately, I had a friend of a friend do the work for me and I haven't been able to get a response from him. > figures. I'm just going to bring it a local shop I know of and have them replace everything. Thanks for all the help, I appreciate it
The job isn't very hard at all to do. Before you drop the cash to have someone else do it, look at the DIY section on this forum under the "105k Service." I did it based off the forum without a problem. Take the money you would be giving to a shop and buy the tools to do it yourself. You will be really happy you did and probably learn something along the way.
The job isn't very hard at all to do. Before you drop the cash to have someone else do it, look at the DIY section on this forum under the "105k Service." I did it based off the forum without a problem. Take the money you would be giving to a shop and buy the tools to do it yourself. You will be really happy you did and probably learn something along the way.
Don't listen to this guy if your not mechanically inclined and have someone who can also guide you through doing a timing service and water pump.
If your even slightly off on the timing you will bend your valves and will need an engine.
If you end up doing it yourself and have questions you can email me. I will help if you have any question you can PM me and ill give you my work email or cell.
Don't listen to this guy if your not mechanically inclined and have someone who can also guide you through doing a timing service and water pump.
If your even slightly off on the timing you will bend your valves and will need an engine.
If you end up doing it yourself and have questions you can email me. I will help if you have any question you can PM me and ill give you my work email or cell.
He is 100% right. These engines are interference type where the valves "can" contact the pistons internally if the timing belt is not done correctly. If you haven't done some degree of wrenching on your car in the past or have a high level of comfort using a variety of mechanical tools, get some help.
Dont forget you may have to get a new timing belt tensioner too.
Not sure how you'll be able to put the grenade pin back in since its under a lot of pressure.
maybe pliers to compress and have someone slide in a pin or something.
So the Last week I work on my car because I had to change my transmission filter and transmission fluid while I was working on it I had noticed that my coolant level was low so I had filled it up and noticed a couple days later it was low again I started noticing small bottles of coolant under the car So I checked the radiator and the reservoir but couldn’t find any leaks it wasn’t until I found this forum That made me consider it could be the water pump. I only find coolant puddles near the passenger side of the engine in the pictures you can see where it was wet that is where the puddles will form under. Not entirely sure though if it is but I’m most likely certain. And I don’t really wanna take it to a shop just cause I know they’d charge me way more than I’d want to spend on this fix. I worked on most of the cars I have owned and have some experience so I was thinking maybe I could do it myself with a friend but I’m also a little worried that I might mess it up. if anyone has any tips or tricks it’d be appreciated. Also if you have any other suggestions what it might be leaking from it’d be appreciated as well.
For coolant leaks I usually use pump to pressurize system. If it still doesn't leak start the engine, as water pumps sometimes leak only when spinning.
If it forms puddle under passenger side, and radiator and hoses are fine, then suspect water pump. There is a thread here how to do the timing belt and water pump. I usually use Aisin kit from rockauto. Whatever you do avoid ebay, especially "OEM" timing belt kits that cost ~$200.
You can easily pull upper front timing belt cover and see if engine is all wet from coolant inside. Also I believe most water pumps have special passages that let coolant outside in case shaft seal fails. If there is coolant forming in that passage it's easy to say that wp went bad.
However there is a motor mount right in front of water pump and with all the covers you need to pull bottom timing belt cover to actually see the pump, which is not a 5 minute job.
For coolant leaks I usually use pump to pressurize system. If it still doesn't leak start the engine, as water pumps sometimes leak only when spinning.
If it forms puddle under passenger side, and radiator and hoses are fine, then suspect water pump. There is a thread here how to do the timing belt and water pump. I usually use Aisin kit from rockauto. Whatever you do avoid ebay, especially "OEM" timing belt kits that cost ~$200.
You can easily pull upper front timing belt cover and see if engine is all wet from coolant inside. Also I believe most water pumps have special passages that let coolant outside in case shaft seal fails. If there is coolant forming in that passage it's easy to say that wp went bad.
However there is a motor mount right in front of water pump and with all the covers you need to pull bottom timing belt cover to actually see the pump, which is not a 5 minute job.
thank you so much for your help this kinda makes a lil more sense to me
Yeah your WP may be leaking, but your oil pump definitely looks like it is leaking as well (unless that residue above your oil filter is also coolant). Time for a TB job and replace that WP as well. When was the last time that job was done?
Yeah your WP may be leaking, but your oil pump definitely looks like it is leaking as well (unless that residue above your oil filter is also coolant). Time for a TB job and replace that WP as well. When was the last time that job was done?
thanks for the help some of it is old residue but I will go ahead and replace both since I wouldn’t know the previous owner only provided me with some of the repair orders. And sorry but can you explain TB not sure if you meant timing belt
yup TB= timing belt . Should be replaced every 105K miles. If you've never done it and can't confirm if the PO has either, then recommend doing the full job.
yup TB= timing belt . Should be replaced every 105K miles. If you've never done it and can't confirm if the PO has either, then recommend doing the full job.
03-01-2016, 12:22 PM
figures. I'm just going to bring it a local shop I know of and have them replace everything. Thanks for all the help, I appreciate it
