I took apart the front cover and freeze plugs are in good shape and not leaking. I poured water directly into the coolant inlet and it appears to drain directly into the oil pan. Any suggestions what it may be? I will be dropping oil pan tommorro and try to see where it's coming from. This is an s5 NA rx that started right up but ran slightly rough.

 

a cracked iron across the rotor face due to freezing water in the system or a broken outer coolant seal wall.

both are extremely uncommon.

 

I personally saw a cracked iron do this. We were pouring water in and it just filled the oil pan with water.

 

i have housings with both failures but definitely not quite as common around here since it rarely gets cold enough.

the broken outer wall engine iron was due to twisting though, since it had also broken the dowel pin casting and snagged the seal wall and broke off a chunk of it as well apparently. so i'm not sure how feasable that possibility would even be for any other engine.

 

Would replacing the front iron even be an option without ripping the whole engine apart, it has good compression? I haven't had a chance to drop the pan and narrow down the issue

 

Had an engine come in for rebuild that was experiencing the exact same problem, turned out to be a cracked intermediate. The front iron cannot be replaced without taking the entire engine apart.

 

JB weld would fix that right up.

 

yep, sarcasm probably wouldnt be the best post in this particular thread, lol. passer by might do this along with maintaining 50/50 water/oil for added HP...

soo looks like i'll need a new motor, not up for a rebuild yet.

 

i wouldn't throw in the towel before at least trying to track down the source.

and if the engine has been rebuilt somewhat recently the front iron can be replaced without taking the whole engine apart, a similar process of what it takes to replace the rear iron without disassembling the whole engine. it must be clamped before taking out the tension bolts.

 

Correct, it technically "could" be done, however someone that is "not up for a rebuild yet" probably should not attempt it. Taking the engine this far apart is literally only 10 minutes from having it fully disassembled at which point the engine could be restacked in the conventional manor.

Not to mention there is nothing to say that the front iron is the issue.

 

i have rebuilt/ported an s4 engine before. but it was a full rebuild, if its salvageable i would definately go that route if partial dissassembly is an option.
no way of knowing the root of the cause till i get in there so i'll dig into the motor and see if i can find/narrow down the issue.