V8S Water leak - I suspect the water pump

[dazmm]

Hi Guys..

I've had my V8S for 18 months and no regrets, absolutely love it,

She's proved to be very reliable, with only a snapped throttle cable, burst heater hose and new coil required in that time

Now It's suffering from a water leak.. not sure where from, but I suspect the water pump.

Do all V8S use the pre-serpentine engine? Mines a "K" plate... just there seems to be multiple options for the Water pump and I want to get the right one first time

Any advice on teasing the water pump bolts out in one piece?
Is it worth changing the drive belt?
Will I need to change the tensioner?

Thanks in advance

[v8s4me]

If you have a tensioner then I think you have the serpentine engine.

Just be careful with the bolts and keep your fingers crossed. If you can get some heat on any sticky ones that may help.

[nawarne]

I'd agree with V8s - a belt that is adjusted via the alternator 'bracket' is definitely a pre-serp.

I reckon the serpentine engines appeared on the Chimaera/Griff post 1995'ish.

Nick

[zombeh]

The serpentine engines appeared in 95 I think so all S should have a per-serp engine unless someone's changed it.

Your best bet for working out exactly what everything is, sadly, is to look at it. Which can be a bit of a pain with water pumps because there are millions of them.

The S engine is a hybrid of rangerover and sd1 bits and the water pump as far as I can tell from mine is GWP2149 (SD1 EFI)

Hopefully yours has led the sheltered life TVR intended and will all come apart nicely rather than all the water pump bolts being a corroded mess.

[GreenV8S]

dazmm said:

Do all V8S use the pre-serpentine engine? Mines a "K" plate... just there seems to be multiple options for the Water pump and I want to get the right one first time

It would have left the factory with a pre-serp 3.9 engine and it would be pretty unusual to change that to a different front end style because it would mean changing all the ancillaries and plumbing. I suppose it's possible somebody did change to an intermediate or serpentine front end, but if so that would be immediately obvious because you'd have a poly-V drive belt instead of a V belt.

It's been a couple of decades since I changed the water pump on mine but as far as I remember there were two possible styles for the pre-serpentine front end and mine I think was referred to as the SD1 variant. I got mine from one of the well known RV8 suppliers (RPI, I think it was) and they were very familiar with the options and worked out which I needed in a matter of seconds, so I don't think you need to be concerned about it.

[Barkychoc]

https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-GWP2149

Or

https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-GWP204

I would go with the first.

Both have a different thread on the nose of the pump I think - otherwise identical.
You won't be attaching a fan anyway so it's immaterial.

Rimmers are always a great help 01522 568000

As you face the front of the engine two of the water pump fixing bolts are about 4 inches long (on the right) - watch out for shearing these buggers off - you know how I know this

Edited by Barkychoc on Friday 2nd February 13:35

[zombeh]

The TR8 pump probably doesn't have a thread for the fan at all as it's not driven off the front of the water pump on that car, it's on a separate idler pulley.

[Boosted LS1]

Do you see the hole drilled in the water pump in the pic? It's there to let you know the inner seal's weeping. Have you looked at your pump to see if it's wet under the nose?

[Classic Chim]

Boosted LS1 said:

Do you see the hole drilled in the water pump in the pic? It's there to let you know the inner seal's weeping. Have you looked at your pump to see if it's wet under the nose?

Just read the whole thread just for this


I was hoping someone mentioned the weep hole. Two seals on the shaft, when the inner one fails you should get a drip/ leak from this hole. Heat etc might make it a sticky mess around that area. Look there first.

Doesn’t always show leak until upto pressure

Edited by Classic Chim on Friday 2nd February 19:25

[phillpot]

Boosted LS1 said:

Do you see the hole drilled in the water pump in the pic?

Circled in yellow...............................

[Classic Chim]

phillpot said:

Circled in yellow...............................

haha

[Boosted LS1]

I wish I could draw like that. I need to explore my pc :-)

[Boosted LS1]

zombeh said:

The TR8 pump probably doesn't have a thread for the fan at all as it's not driven off the front of the water pump on that car, it's on a separate idler pulley.

The TR8 fan's on the crank pulley and it works really well if you have a high temp, high power, hot turbo engine crawling around in traffic jams. :-)

[v8s4me]

Maybe a previous owner changed the motor. You never know you might have a 4.3?

[dazmm]

Didn't know about the weep hole.. have had a slight leak for a while.. so will check that first.
Fairly certain it's the standard factory engine.
Cheers guys..