K cambelt cover coolant leak

[saaby93]

Just been crawling under my mates S2 K ( undertrays removed) to suss a coolant leak. It's dripping fom the camcover under the engine right side.
Is the only thing in there likely to leak the water pump?

[TVR Tommy]

That would be the water pump. These are recommended to be changed at cam belt time. I did mine and it's not to hard to change but access is tight. Also the pumps bolts have a low torque. So have thread lock and the NM rating to hand.

Edited by TVR Tommy on Monday 19th April 20:22

[saaby93]

TVR Tommy said:

That would be the water pump. These are recommend to be changed at cam belt time. I did mine and it's not to hard to change but access is tight. Also the pumps bolts have a low torque. So have thread lock and the NM rating to hand.

Thanks. Which way does it come out? Through the cambelt cover or under the inlet manifold?
Google found this
http://www.midlandslotus.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Chan...

[TVR Tommy]

It's driven by the cam belt. So it's crank pulley off, Cam belt cover off, Loosen engine mount so you can pass cam belt between the bolts, Cam belt off. Then the pump just unbolts. And then reverse

It's a frustrating job as the access is a pain. You will have to remove the wheel arch liner and then get stuck in. Or the easiest way is remove rear clam but that will take even more time and frustration with seized clam bolts.

[saaby93]

In that link
http://www.midlandslotus.co.uk/wiki/index.php/File...
see how the cable looks damp at top right - thats covered in coolant

[TVR Tommy]

That cable runs below where the pump is. To be 100% take of the cam belt cover off and have a look. It's in two bits, top and bottom. The top comes off easily. The bottom one has bolts behind the crank pulley. Which can be a bugger to get off as the 210nm bolt that holds it on doesn't come off without some brut force.

A leak there can only really be the water pump. Get him to changed it and don't just top up the coolant. If the pump is leaking from the pumps shaft seal and it fails cam belt goes with it.

[saaby93]

It looks as though it might be doable without removing the cambelt?
Remove the top half the cambelt cover, loosen the cambelt somehow?

That's my driveway booked up for a week!

Edited by saaby93 on Monday 19th April 21:05

[Justin S]

Just helped a fellow pistonheader with a cambelt and pump change on an S1. The cambelt is probably immersed in all the coolant now, so personally, while you are there, would do a cambelt as well. For the sake of a couple more hours of graft, its done for ages then and will be clean.Get both the cambelts and tensioners and send back the one you don't use, as his was labelled as an auto tensioner and was a manual one when dismantled. You will need to get the crankshaft pulley off as well to get the cover and belt off.
If you don't want to do the belt...........then you should be able to cable tie the belt to the cam pulleys and then undo and remove the tensioner to give enough slack to possibly get the pump out.

[saaby93]

Justin S said:

Just helped a fellow pistonheader with a cambelt and pump change on an S1. The cambelt is probably immersed in all the coolant now, so personally, while you are there, would do a cambelt as well. For the sake of a couple more hours of graft, its done for ages then and will be clean.Get both the cambelts and tensioners and send back the one you don't use, as his was labelled as an auto tensioner and was a manual one when dismantled. You will need to get the crankshaft pulley off as well to get the cover and belt off.
If you don't want to do the belt...........then you should be able to cable tie the belt to the cam pulleys and then undo and remove the tensioner to give enough slack to possibly get the pump out.

Thanks!
Is there anywhere to buy these 33mm long crankshaft pulley 22mm sockets?

ETA: Found a 30mm long one
Where to get a cambelt locking tool?

Edited by saaby93 on Monday 19th April 22:05

[TVR Tommy]

To get the crank pulley off I used a good quality deep ring spanner. Put car into fifth with hand brake on as hard as possible. then used my foot to get the force needed. Or chop down a socket.

You may as well do the cam belt when you do the pump. You will want to get the replacement pump back on perfectly. As its got a seal that if it gets kinking will leak so you'll have to do the whole job again. Also Vaseline is good to temporally hold the seal in place when fitting. Also you can buy a shaped bit of metal to hold the Cam pulleys in place.

I hope you ask for many beer tokens after doing the job. If you take it on.

cam tool http://www.incarshop.co.uk/acatalog/52306_CLT-K16....

Edited by TVR Tommy on Monday 19th April 22:10

[dern]

saaby93 said:

Justin S said:

Just helped a fellow pistonheader with a cambelt and pump change on an S1. The cambelt is probably immersed in all the coolant now, so personally, while you are there, would do a cambelt as well. For the sake of a couple more hours of graft, its done for ages then and will be clean.Get both the cambelts and tensioners and send back the one you don't use, as his was labelled as an auto tensioner and was a manual one when dismantled. You will need to get the crankshaft pulley off as well to get the cover and belt off.
If you don't want to do the belt...........then you should be able to cable tie the belt to the cam pulleys and then undo and remove the tensioner to give enough slack to possibly get the pump out.

Thanks!
Is there anywhere to buy these 33mm long crankshaft pulley 22mm sockets?

ETA: Found a 30mm long one
Where to get a cambelt locking tool?

When Justin and I did mine I used a socket from an impact socket set I got with an air gun and ground it down until it went on using a breaker bar. There's access to the flywheel without taking the starter motor off so you can lock the engine off there with a suitable screwdriver.

You can get the cambelt locking tool from eliseparts.

Cheers,

Mark

[dern]

TVR Tommy said:

I hope you ask for many beer tokens after doing the job. If you take it on.

Indeed. It's not particularly difficult but all this is extremely time consuming and can be very frustrating. Having two people doing it certainly helps with the motivation

[saaby93]

wheel arch liner out
top cambelt cover off
cam belt as dry as a bone
water pump not leaking

[Justin S]

If you can see the water pump as is, then run the car up and hope it isn't leaking from the headgasket....................Coolant doesnt evaporate, so must be visible somewhere on the block.

[saaby93]

Justin S said:

If you can see the water pump as is, then run the car up and hope it isn't leaking from the headgasket....................Coolant doesnt evaporate, so must be visible somewhere on the block.

Will have another look tomorrow - I've won it for a few days
It looked as though the coolant was coming out around where the crank pulley goes into cam belt cover. With the top cambelt cover removed (it's about top 2/3rds) couldnt see any leaks with engine not running.
Have left it with all the undertrays off to see where the lake is in the morning

[Justin S]

The area of the water pump is also the thermostat housing, which I believe is plastic. The pump is on an o ring to the block. This is inside the plastic cam cover,so might be difficult to see. The other thing to do is make up a pump or buy a small pump that could pressurise the system, so you can look safely under pressure without the engine running.

[saaby93]

No leak this morning with all the covers off
Slight condensation below the water pump, maybe it's the O ring seal leaking

[saaby93]

Still no leak despite it being out for a few times (cambelt cover only back on)
Time to put the wheel arch liner back in, the under trays on and the leak will return

[saaby93]

ok this morning - a puddle
It looks like the flange between the water pump and the head
(is it the head or the block there?)
Not sure what to do now - working out which bolts hold the water pump and from which side

[Justin S]

pump is connected to the block with I believe 4 10mm bolts. To remove the pump, it will be stuck on 2 locating dowels. The O ring is stuck to the pump recess.