- Joined
- May 21, 2014
- Messages
- 432
So yesterday afternoon while headed home from work my temp gauge skyrocketed. Immediately switched off and allowed the car to cool. When I checked my coolant level had dropped significantly. So I just threw in water and headed home cancelling all the runs I had to make and just parking up for the night.
This morning I decided to inspect for the leak myself and see how it could be handled. So I started the car and sure enough saw coolant leaking but not from the radiator where I had suspected. It was behind the water pump. But I had seen some coolant on the radiator anyway so I went to see if I could get a pressure test to go forward with the diagnosis.
Drove the car to the radiator place and told the person what I was experiencing. She said that it looked like a water jacket leak at the rear and to go to a mechanic first because a pressure test would make the leak worse.
Went to the mechanic and he diagnosed it to be a leak behind the pump (as I thought) but he would look through the system to see what could have caused it.
So unfortunately for me that was the beginning of a downward spiral. Turns out that the bypass pipe, thermostat housing, thermostat, upper and lower radiator hoses were bad as well as most of the smaller hoses in the system. They were all replaced. Took an entire day to do.
Process was long due to the location of everything. It was all under the intake manifold so that had to be removed to get it all out. All in all it cost me about 3k today, almost 2k in parts ( luckily sherrifs cipero st had them all ).
Lesson learned from it all though. Proper maintenance of the cooling system and periodic checks can prevent all that I went through. Just check out the diy section for more info on how to maintain it yourself and not fork out $$$ like I had to.
This morning I decided to inspect for the leak myself and see how it could be handled. So I started the car and sure enough saw coolant leaking but not from the radiator where I had suspected. It was behind the water pump. But I had seen some coolant on the radiator anyway so I went to see if I could get a pressure test to go forward with the diagnosis.
Drove the car to the radiator place and told the person what I was experiencing. She said that it looked like a water jacket leak at the rear and to go to a mechanic first because a pressure test would make the leak worse.
Went to the mechanic and he diagnosed it to be a leak behind the pump (as I thought) but he would look through the system to see what could have caused it.
So unfortunately for me that was the beginning of a downward spiral. Turns out that the bypass pipe, thermostat housing, thermostat, upper and lower radiator hoses were bad as well as most of the smaller hoses in the system. They were all replaced. Took an entire day to do.
Process was long due to the location of everything. It was all under the intake manifold so that had to be removed to get it all out. All in all it cost me about 3k today, almost 2k in parts ( luckily sherrifs cipero st had them all ).
Lesson learned from it all though. Proper maintenance of the cooling system and periodic checks can prevent all that I went through. Just check out the diy section for more info on how to maintain it yourself and not fork out $$$ like I had to.
