My car has been overheating occasionally, like every few months, and then I realize it’s really low on coolant, even though the overflow is still in the normal range. I noticed coolant from this area above the oil pan in the drivers side.


Area circled in RED appears to be where coolant is leaking. Anyone know what that area is. It was tough to get a picture but it almost looked like it may have been dented… maybe by a rock or road debris??

Could the block be damaged? Gosh I sure hope not. Any suggestions besides bleed the system and add coolant every other month. Lol

thanks

Joe

 

I never see it discussed here but maybe a search will turn something up. In the old days, most water pumps were external and had built in weep holes to let you know when the pump or seals are on the way out. So you'd see a trickle of coolant from the weep holes as a warning sign to change your pump. But with pumps inside the timing cover, I don't know where that's supposed to weep out of. Maybe it's this.

 

There is a coolant plug just above that spot to the right. Looks to see if that is what is leaking other than that outside of the coolant tube spraying over that way and running down the block there is nothing over the way that has coolant other than your head gasket...

 

I saw another thread that this is actually a weep hole for the water pump and the water pump may just be leaking and have bad o-rings. Sucks that you have to deal with the timing chain and stuff just to get the pump out.

I’m hesitant to do the water pump swap myself as I’m afraid of dropping a bolt down into the engine, but I’m guessing a shop will charge $800-$1000 to do it. So I may just deal with adding coolant and bleeding every couple months. lol.

 

Yep that's the water pump weep hole, time for a new water pump.

Also, you DO NOT have to mess with the timing chains on the DE engine water pump other than making sure to keep tension on it with your finger so it doesn't slip a tooth on the crankshaft, you definitely can replace the water pump by only removing the access window plate on the timing chain cover.