Help, Water Leak

[wah 0]

Hi all,

 

With being away from the GTI scene for a while I was on my way on Thurs to go and collect a 1.9 GTI from Northampton from Stockport only to get into a hours drive to recieve a phone call to be told it had a water leak, now a drop every 2-3 seconds on a 2 and half plus drive home wasn't a good idea so left it with the seller to investigate, he has come back to me tonight to say it's coming from the back of the block from a blanked off sensor hole when I asked which side of the block he said it was below the exhaust manifold, now is there anywhere that water could possibly come from below the manifold and if so from where ??

 

 

 

Si

[large 33]

Has it just had the HG changed?

Off the top of my head I can't think of anything like you have described.

The only water sensors on the car are

warning light.

temp gauge.

ecu temp sender.

And they are not on the block but are under the dizzy on the back of the engine.

 

Are there any core plugs on the back of the block?

 

 

Also a better title would help, a lot of people that could help will not even read this.

Edited April 15, 2011 by large

[wah 0]

Couldn't think of a title to put so that was all I could think of don't think there are any core plugs at rear of the block as that was my first thought, I have resto project in there garage and went into that from the engine bay and couldn't see much as regards to sensors

[wah 0]

Hi all,

 

With being away from the GTI scene for a while I was on my way on Thurs to go and collect a 1.9 GTI from Northampton from Stockport only to get into a hours drive to recieve a phone call to be told it had a water leak, now a drop every 2-3 seconds on a 2 and half plus drive home wasn't a good idea so left it with the seller to investigate, he has come back to me tonight to say it's coming from the back of the block from a blanked off sensor hole when I asked which side of the block he said it was below the exhaust manifold, now is there anywhere that water could possibly come from below the manifold and if so from where ??

 

 

 

Si

[wah 0]

Anybody ???

[DamirGTI 342]

From the back of the block towards the dizzy or timing belt side ? or in the center ?

 

Theres only one sensor plug on the back of the block , roughly in the middle , but more towards the dizzy side - oli level sender plug (used on BX engines etc.) , but that one couldn't leak coolant , only oil ..

Further on theres two core plugs on the head , at the back in between cylinders 2 and 3 , so at the back next to the exhaust ports and these ones really can leak coolant if they're rusted off from the inside .. not hard to replace either - remove the exh. manifold , hammer the plugs out , clean up the area with scotchbrite pad , hammer in new ones with a little dab of sealant on seat surface .

 

Other than this , it might be one of the coolant sensors on the thermostat housing (dizzy side) , or the water distribution block (timing belt side) ... or , someone in the past might holed the block by not fitting additional spacer on the head bolt on top of the water pump , and unsuccessfully made epoxy metal repair which started leaking now ... (that's timing belt side as well)

 

And that's about it ..

 

Damir

Edited April 16, 2011 by DamirGTI

[wah 0]

Cheers for the reply having sent him a picture of the back of the block he has high lighted the area that the he was told it was leaking from, however reading what has been said this could not be possible, I have attached the photo so you can see

 

 

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

That is the oil bung that Damir has mentioned. It would not be leaking water from there.

[wah 0]

Thats what I thought Tom so the only other place is the core plug or one of the coolant sensors on the thermostat housing (dizzy side) as Damir mentioned, if it is a core plug does anybody have an idiots guide to this and can it be done with the engine in situ in the car ?

[DamirGTI 342]

http://www.guy-croft.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=198

 

Never done it with the engine in but , try ... don't have nothing to loose ...

Remove the exh. manifold , unbolt top and bottom engine mount (support the engine from the bottom with some wooden blocks) and tilt the engine towards the radiator in order to gain as much space as possible to work at the back ... remove the studs as well (use two nuts against each other to do so ..) ...

Then , pick some nice heavy hammer , chisel , drift and hit the core plug squarely - bang it in on one corner only , bang inside so it should pop/slide sideways out in position say kinda "moon-shape" .. so just pop/slide/twist it in the housing and pull out afterwards .

 

Fit new ones as said in the link above ... socket and hammer will do ..

 

Damir

[wah 0]

I have asked weather the core plugs were changed when the engine overhaul was done to be told he didn't know what core plugs were !! it's supposed to have had :

 

rebuilt the engine with new gaskets waterpump cambelt etc, also the head was flowed & skimmed raised the compression which was then fitted with a kent cam new valve stem seals and uprated valves springs

 

Now it obviously hasn't had the core plugs replaced so my main worry is I have a 130 mile trip home is it worth the risk or not ??????

[DamirGTI 342]

Now it obviously hasn't had the core plugs replaced so my main worry is I have a 130 mile trip home is it worth the risk or not ??????

 

It can be done for driving the car home - buy an bottle of rad weld product (but powdery type .. not liquid type ..) , start the engine and pour one quarter or maxi. half of the dose inside the expansion tank and run it for a while at idle ... 10min , rev it a bit , take some emergency bottles of water with you and you're free to go ... during the trip stop a few times and recheck the coolant level inside exp. bottle ... but it'll seal it up no doubt (i've been driving with cracked liner once on this powder stuff - it sealed the crack completely ... so , it should do ..)

 

Then , when you got back home , first thing in the morning - pressure wash all the engine internal coolant passages , housings , hoses , radiator , expansion bottle etc. free from rad weld deposits .... this really is a must ... wash it out of the engine until the clear water remains pouring out ... do it twice if needed ...

 

When done , can proceed with the core plug repair .

 

Damir

[steve@cornwall 100]

I wouldn'd discount a fine spray from a failing heater hose hitting the block around that area- likely from where the hose clips to the back of the SAD?

[wah 0]

Arrrrgggghhh I don't know what to do as I already have one 1.9 sat in my garage unroad worthy, I don't fancy another having to be off road for repair as soon as I get it back, oh and to throw something else into the mix it has started to crunch when going into third, however has said he will provide a gearbox as well it just all seems alot to have gone wrong all of a sudden

Edited April 17, 2011 by wah

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

I've messed with lots of these engines and have never had to touch those plugs in the head, so I wouldn't be too concerned that they haven't been changed.

 

I would be more inclined to agree with Steve- there are quite a jumble of hoses round the back of the head and thermostat area, it could just be something as simple as a pinhole in one.

 

Personally I would knock some money off the seller, dose it with radweld or similar and drive it home as Damir says. If you are not too confident in repairs find someone familiar with the cars to sort it for you. I am not that far away and do work for folk if you don't know anyone closer to home.

[wah 0]

I just don't fancy getting part way back and something goes wrong and then I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

As said, take some radweld and water and the chances are you'll be OK. If not just make sure you've got breakdown cover, I first got it 10 years ago and although nowadays my cars are generally more reliable, so I haven't needed it for quite some years, I would certainly not be without it.

[wah 0]

Thats the problem Tom I have recovery always have, however for a 2 1/2hr drive there to maybe get stuck on the way home then have to wait for a recovery truck isn't my idea of fun for a Sunday afternoon lol

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

So your choices are (1) either bite the bullet, go prepared with radweld and accept you may or may not have to call your breakdown, or (2) give up and find another one.

 

No amount of discussion on here is going to change that.

 

Personally if the car is otherwise in good order I'd buy it and sort out the faults, but thats just me.

[GLPoomobile 958]

Just for the record, I drove my Mi a few hundred miles with water pissing from the front of the block, and had to keep stopping to put litres of water at a time back in to it. In fact I think it even ran dry towards the end of the journey. I will caveat that statement to point out that I'm by no means recomending doing so - it's the individual's choice. I didn't do it out of choice, I did it out of necessity (I was already a couple of hundred miles in to a 400+ mile journey when I discovered the extent of the problem).

 

If the low coolant light works then it should be fine so long as you stock up on a few gallons of water. Just keep an eye on the dials and stop every once in a while to check the level and top up. I'd also recommend that upon completion of the journey you completely drain the water and either leave it dry pending repair, or refil with the correct coolant. You do not want to leave the engine full of water as it will corrode.

 

Again, I'm not recommending doing anything that will cook the engine. It's your choice and you have to weigh up the risks. Radweld would be a safer and more convenient option (which is what I did to get back home the other 400+ miles) but comes with the downside of possibly gunking up some of the channels in the engine etc. Again IMO I don't think that the modern Radweld products are as bad as they used to be for this, and IIRC they are only designed to be effective as long as the coolant is not renewed - once the coolant is drained and refilled they apparently no longer seal and you need to use the product again to repair the leak. Again, take my words with a pinch of salt and make your own decision.

Edited April 17, 2011 by GLPoomobile

[wah 0]

I think i'm going to give it a miss I have seen another in Mansfield which is a little closer to home looks ok from the pics ( it's up o Ebay at the moment ) only thing wrong is the speedo doesn't work which I believe is a simple job to repair, only reason I was going for the other was because the better half lliked the colour as it's for her lol