Coolant leak from heater pipe behind water pump

rowan194 · 24-08-2011, 02:03 PM

Any way to replace the o-ring without having to remove the water pump? ie by pulling the pipe backwards rather than the water pump forwards.

Main reason is I don't want to lose the $50 worth of coolant I've just put in a few days ago, and risk damaging the water pump.

smoo · 24-08-2011, 03:18 PM

Dunno about pulling the pipe backwards, haven't trace it myself, but mine is also leaking, a few weeks after replacing the pump. The end of that pipe on mine is corroded to ***. Drain your coolant into a clean container and whip the pump off and seal her up with RTV type silicon sealant Loctite blumax or similar. Will never leak again. You should be able to buy another water pump gasket by itself. 2 hour job max.
Looks as though your waterpump is old, might as well get a new one while you're at it?

rowan194 · 24-08-2011, 03:53 PM

Oh well, guess I'm up for a new water pump, may as well do the accessory belt while I'm at it. Expect some more silly questions over the next couple of days.

Hopefully I just shifted the pipe/gasket a bit when I was hammering in my welch plug and it's not leaking because it's corroded through. Can't imagine how you'd (easily) replace the pipe, since it goes behind the engine somewhere...

XRGhia · 24-08-2011, 04:01 PM

It's a 3-4 hour job if you do the water pump, and the pipe behind it....

It's quite easy really... 4 bolts holding the water pump on

Beer Baron · 24-08-2011, 05:02 PM

One bell housing bolt and another bolt holding the pipe on the side of the block. About 6 beers worth of time. The o ring cost me nothing as i found one that fitted in the bottom of my tool box.

rowan194 · 24-08-2011, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beer Baron

One bell housing bolt and another bolt holding the pipe on the side of the block. About 6 beers worth of time. The o ring cost me nothing as i found one that fitted in the bottom of my tool box.

Now you've got my interest... so a single bolt at the rear plus the bracket at the side is enough to move the pipe out of the pump? All I'd need is a new o-ring and a bit of gasket sealant.

I wonder if I should go the whole hog. One of my welch plugs rusted through so there's probably other cooling system components such as the pump which are decidedly tired, plus the acc belt seems a bit noisy lately... could do both while fixing this leak. Or should I just do what you've suggested? Hmmmm.

Beer Baron · 24-08-2011, 07:55 PM

Mine only leaked because i disturbed the pipe when fitting the T5 back in. You may need to remove the heat shield pending if you can work without seeing your hands. I have always put silicon on water pump o rings, peace of mind.

rowan194 · 24-08-2011, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beer Baron

Mine only leaked because i disturbed the pipe when fitting the T5 back in.

Heh, mine is probably leaking because I was leaning an extension bar against it to bang in a new welch plug straight. Might even be able to get away with trying to push it towards the pump to reseat it, but I'd rather fix it properly.

I should be able access the heat pipe from under the car, but I know how to remove the heat shield if necessary (had the exhaust manifold off last week)

I have permatex form-a-gasket type 2 (the stuff that stays soft, doesn't harden) which I used for the welch plugs, that should be a suitable sealant?

Beer Baron · 24-08-2011, 08:57 PM

Should be fine, Just don't over do it.

rowan194 · 24-08-2011, 10:11 PM

Hunting through the images in my gregory's manual, trying to find something showing the heater pipe, found this:

I presume that's the bell housing mount at the bottom right of the pic. That bolt is accessible from under the car without the trans and engine needing to be separated, right?

Where does this pipe go? I figured it was connected through the firewall to something inside the dash, but it seems to be heading back towards the front of the engine. Is it the same pipe that comes out of the thermostat housing, so it's a loop around the back of the engine, between the water pump and thermostat housing?

Ah, I can see the rear welch plug in that pic too! Hopefully I never have to replace that one.

XRGhia · 24-08-2011, 10:16 PM

Naa.... That hose that goes from the waterpump, leads to just underneath the intake manifold.... The hose goes from the pipe to the heater core in the heaterbox...

Not real hard, but I do suggest dropping the transmission down off it's mounts, and getting it as low as possible so You can easily unbolt the pipe, and remove it...

I could possibly get pics of where it goes to if you want?

Beer Baron · 24-08-2011, 10:25 PM

No need to drop gearbox mount, Just use an offset spanner and some patience and voila. No need to remove the bolt entirely either just loosen it most of the way.

Beer Baron · 24-08-2011, 10:28 PM

The fuel pressure regulator on AU falcons isn't bolted on either like the photo shows, Must be an E series by the tappet cover.

rowan194 · 24-08-2011, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beer Baron

The fuel pressure regulator on AU falcons isn't bolted on either like the photo shows, Must be an E series by the tappet cover.

Yeah it's an EL gregory's... close enough for most things.

Cheers for the info, hopefully the pipe isn't too badly corroded and can stay in place. (Look at those rust stains. :( )

Beer Baron · 24-08-2011, 11:07 PM

If you have kept clean coolant in it and done regular flushes it shouldn't be too bad.

rowan194 · 24-08-2011, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beer Baron

If you have kept clean coolant in it and done regular flushes it shouldn't be too bad.

Bzzt... hadn't been flushed for 6 1/2 years and because of a slow leak I'd been topping it up with demineralised water, with no coolant additive. One of the welch plugs rusted through.

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11339754

I now know better, but maybe it's too late...

It's a comedy of errors and bad luck when I try to fix things, but at least at the end of the day it's experience. Looks like I may be gaining some more experience at this rate!

rowan194 · 26-08-2011, 12:13 PM

Went to the car and started work today, as per usual I immediately ran into an issue that stopped me from going any further... the area behind the engine is very tight, and I don't have a 19mm offset spanner.

This means another trip to the shop, another waiting an hour for the engine to cool so I don't burn myself, and looking at running out of time again because I'm supposed to pick up my daughter in 2 1/2 hours... I had my car up on the ramps overnight so it would be stone cold, no point! Should have checked the trans bolt yesterday.

Luckily I hadn't drained the cooling system yet.

The lower rad hose is also dripping at the radiator.

Hopefully just because I've overtightened the clamp. Have loosened it slightly and will see what happens.

I'm self employed, sometimes I wonder if all this time spent mucking around (including the multiple visits to shops and purchase of new tools for possibly one-off jobs) is costing me more than dropping it off at a mechanic.

edit: the heater pipe on the other side of the engine is dripping too. FFS

JC · 26-08-2011, 11:37 PM

You shouldn't need to undo the bolt at the rear of the engine - the 13mm bolt on the side is all you need to undo, then use a big screwdriver to lever the pipe off the back of the water pump.

Change the O ring, jam the pipe back in, and use the same larghe screwdriver to lever between the back of the pipe and the firewall to seat it back in properly, then redo the 13mm bolt on the side of the block.

All up should take you less than 5 mins (assuming you have laready removed the heat shield on the exhaust).

rowan194 · 28-08-2011, 08:54 PM

Just a quick update, I ended up repairing 4 minor leaks, including replacing the water pump. Add the piddling welch plug (more major) and that makes 5 leaks I've fixed in the past couple of weeks. The work yesterday went really smoothly and with no hiccups. No more driveway spotting or visible green blobs on cooling system parts for now. Fingers crossed.

**aussiblue** · 08-12-2013, 10:35 PM

I just had to install the clamp for that heater tube behind the head on my son's manual EF. Whoever last had the car or worked on it before my son bought it, left the clamp off. Refitting it on a manual is even harder as there is adjacent strengthening webbing on the bell housing adjacent to the bolt that limits access even more and requires the use of a thin wall socket (no space for a flexi gear wrench or similar). After unsuccessfully trying numerous obstruction wrenches etc I found a Repco through socket like this just fitted with the socket driver upside down and used on the drivers side with the driver handle horizontal (i.e. parallel to the bottom windscreen line).

Old thread I know but I thought it might help someone in future facing the same problem. Four hour job - 3 hours finding something that would fit and hour to patiently undo the bolt slide on the clamp (pushing the clamp down from above worked as that obstructive webbing guides it underneath the bolt and spring washer but be careful the clamp has a propensity to capture the washer between its to leaves and if left like that won't clamp). You need to wind the bolt out about 15mm.

The other 13mm is just below the exhaust manifold near the water pump inline with the alternator brace and nothing needs to removed to loosen and tighten that although a mirror is handy to find it.