Newb question. The cars' at the garage and I'm at work so I don't have pics yet. I saw massive amounts of coolant cascading down front of motor in the general vicinity of the water pump. I shut motor off and bought a new water pump which I haven't installed yet.
Well, as I cruise the forum, I am reading about coolant leaks and $50 junk 13b motors. So, my questions are: Where should I be looking for a death knell coolant leak at the front of the motor? Most common site? Can the front of the motor be taken off with pulling the whole thing? Could the cracked front housing, if that is the case, be TIG welded and put back on? There's 186k on the motor; should we just use it as a core at this point?
Thanks in advance for your opinions!

 

ttt Help!

 

Confused...seems to me you're freaking out over something that can be small.

Sounds like it could be a loose hose or a bad pump. Replace the pump, thermo and hoses and go from there.

 

The pump is the most likely source of the leak. There is a 'weep hole' that's positioned on the bearing shaft of the water pump that's designed to leak to let you know that your bearing has worn through and is leaking coolant past to the front of the pump. When this happens, the more you drive it, the worse it gets, until you're raining down coolant which is being pumped out this little hole. Normally, the hole is just an air vent for the bearing race area, but when the bearing (rear) goes out, the coolant can flow past.

For the cost and time of the pump replacement, that's where I'd focus my energy. While you're there, replace upper and lower radiator hoses, obviously (about $20 in hoses), and thermostat, too - this is just good pre-summertime preventative maintenance.

The other things that you're talking about are usually much more involved, and you won't be able to fix a coolant leak at the rotor housing or irons without taking the engine apart. Even an excellent welder would have a hard time in that area. A section of the front cover can be removed independently, but this doesn't help you since it doesn't uncover any of the coolant passages of the engine which could be leaking - it only provides access to where the oil pump is located and the distributor gear shaft.

Replace the pump and report back with what you found - it will either fix it, or not. If not, we may have some other suggestions,

 

So, if I'm understand y'all's responses, the fact that I can see the leak coming from the water pump area is good and my initial assessment of the leak is correct. Then the dreaded "junk the housing" leaks are INTERNAL and not external? BTW there's no evidence of coolant in the oil or exhaust.

 

White steam in the exhaust would be a sure sign of a internal water jacket leak through one of the engine sealing O-rings. Along with bubbles in the coolant system when you start it up from cold - this is excess compression gases making their way into the coolant.

Also, any water/coolant in your oil system would indicate same - you'll see this on your dipstick if it's a problem.

The fact that you can see the coolant leak at the front of the engine is almost a dead-giveaway. Replace that and let us know if that's the problem,

 

yea, change the pump, also be sure to change the pump housing gakset. Its like a 3 hour job or so. the hardest part is getting the old shitty gaskets off.