Okay, this has been bugging me since yesterday when I first noticed it. During this past week and last weekend, I was working on my car and replacing a whole lot of parts: water pump, smog pump, power steering pump. Now, when I was putting the water pump mounting block back onto the motor, I was wondering if I put just the right amount of sealant on the passage area that goes against the block. Me being the dumbass ask the ******** (another tenant) watching me if I should take it back off and make sure I put the right amount of sealant. He said that I shouldn't worry about it, he saw what I did, it should be just fine. Fast forward to this previous Friday when I finally got everything back together. Started up the motor and checked everywhere for leaks. No leaks anywhere. I was very happy. So, I go out and run my errands (I use my '98 Kenworth during the week to travel around), come back home and park the car.

Saturday, I went out to take a look at the exhaust setup. Once I was through with that, I took my flashlight and noticed what looked to be a leak....at the top part of the water pump mounting block to the motor, right under the alternator. Now, this wasn't a puddle. It wasn't creating a pool. It looked more like a damp area where the coolant had been, and it was no longer than 3/4 of an inch across the seam. This got me a bit worried. Mainly because I thrive on perfection and KNEW I should've not listened to El Idiota and take the plate off and put some more sealant on it when I had the chance. Nope. Instead, I have this tiny seepage. Now, I ran the engine fairly good on late Friday afternoon/early evening. I must've put about 40-50 miles when all was said and probably only took it up to 3000 RPM during it (I didn't want to prematurely put excessive force on my new P/S pump). And, yesterday when I was checking over the engine, I also started it up and reved it up a bit high, near 5000 or 6000 (before noticing the leak, but after removing the car off the prop ramps and checking something else).

So, frustrated over seeing this "leak" and not even wanting to yank everything back off just to reapply more sealant (and upset that I didn't put more when I had the chance), all I did was get some more sealant and smear it across the area that I saw the dampness and hope that that'll solve the problem.

Is this something I really should worry about? Like I said, wasn't a puddle, not even enough to form a drop, it just looked more like any old engine would that's getting on in the gaskets. Dampness over certain areas that are proned to leak/seep. Factor in that I hardly take my car out for hard driving and put some sealant over the area to maybe, just maybe, seal it up some, I'm wondering if this should be good enough peace of mind?

I know, I sound paranoid but doing all that work onto my engine (off and on during the week due to my work hours), I was feeling a bit disheartened at seeing that. Last thing I want to do is yank all the accessories and pulleys off to go through it again.

Any thoughts?

 

Did you make sure the 2 steel shims that go onto the bolts were still in place?

If sealed correctly there should be no evidence of seepage/wet area.

 

Yes, the shims were still on the studs that were inside the block when I put it back on. I remember the manual saying to watch out for those. Oh well, I'll just keep a close eye on the area.

 

I have a baby drip tooo... real small but it irks the **** out of me...

2 Steel Shims...?????? Where's this...????

 

I believe they are the #2 and #4 bolt studs that protrude out of the block. They're really just slim washers.

 

Shims are on the 2 right hand side studs that hold the waterpump to the front cover. They are 0.020" thick. Thier purpose is to makeup for the gasket thickness on the other 2 studs.

 

Probably not related, but did you torque to about 17-ish Ft/Lbs?? Which = hardly any torque!? These nuts and bolts should NOT be super-tight! There is also a torquing order as well...
FWIW I used NO sealant, just new gaskets with a smear of plain-old axle-grease on each side of the gasket (so they will just peel right off next time). tight as a drum-
Stu Aull
80GS