Signs of a leaking coolant seal? looking in through exhaust port
08-06-19, 09:16 PM
#1
Signs of a leaking coolant seal? looking in through exhaust port
Hey Everyone,
A little bit of back story, my car was spewing coolant out of the reservoir 2.5 years ago. On one drive, home, I saw the coolant needle creep to slightly higher than normal, so I immediately shut it down. I used a coolant system tester and found out that I had a pinhole leak in the lower rad hose and a small leak right behind the alternator. I replaced both, did the champagne test, and also pressurized the coolant system and let it sit - it passed all of those tests.
I put about 5k miles since then with no overheating problems, no hard starts, and no white smoke. I had replaced the spark plugs sometime after that as well, and I didn't see any signs of coolant.
This last weekend, since I had to both reseal my oil pan and do my clutch, I decided it was easier to pull my motor. With the engine on a stand, I looked into my exhaust ports and found some beads of coolant on the front rotor and a droplets against the front iron. The droplets against the iron are still present after turning the engine a few rotations as well. Is this a definite sign that my coolant seal is starting to fail? Is there a way for me to check the health of the coolant seal with the engine out of the car?
Here's a pic of the droplets on the front iron:
I couldn't find a good way to get any other internal pictures with my phone.
A little bit of back story, my car was spewing coolant out of the reservoir 2.5 years ago. On one drive, home, I saw the coolant needle creep to slightly higher than normal, so I immediately shut it down. I used a coolant system tester and found out that I had a pinhole leak in the lower rad hose and a small leak right behind the alternator. I replaced both, did the champagne test, and also pressurized the coolant system and let it sit - it passed all of those tests.
I put about 5k miles since then with no overheating problems, no hard starts, and no white smoke. I had replaced the spark plugs sometime after that as well, and I didn't see any signs of coolant.
This last weekend, since I had to both reseal my oil pan and do my clutch, I decided it was easier to pull my motor. With the engine on a stand, I looked into my exhaust ports and found some beads of coolant on the front rotor and a droplets against the front iron. The droplets against the iron are still present after turning the engine a few rotations as well. Is this a definite sign that my coolant seal is starting to fail? Is there a way for me to check the health of the coolant seal with the engine out of the car?
Here's a pic of the droplets on the front iron:
I couldn't find a good way to get any other internal pictures with my phone.
Last edited by nitewing117; 08-06-19 at 09:36 PM.
08-07-19, 12:57 AM
#2
I'm no expert, but I nursed an engine with hurt coolant seals for 3000+ miles before I finally pulled it and swapped in another. I never opened that engine, only looked in the exhaust ports like you're doing. I agree it's hard to get a good photo of the rotor through the exhaust port. At least one of the rotors from my engine had visible rust on it. It's been about 10 years so I don't remember all the details, but I think one rotor looked worse than the other.
If you can do it safely, maybe try to dry that rotor off and then pressurize the cooling system to see if additional water gets on the rotor?
If you can do it safely, maybe try to dry that rotor off and then pressurize the cooling system to see if additional water gets on the rotor?
08-07-19, 11:23 AM
#7
I'd say if you don't see bubbles in your coolant, you may be fine. However, a pressure test would be real verification of the integrity of your cooling seals
Last edited by TomU; 08-07-19 at 11:26 AM.
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08-07-19, 12:51 PM
#9
https://www.pineappleracing.com/cool...estercspt.aspx
I'd say if you don't see bubbles in your coolant, you may be fine. However, a pressure test would be real verification of the integrity of your cooling seals
I'd say if you don't see bubbles in your coolant, you may be fine. However, a pressure test would be real verification of the integrity of your cooling seals
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alexdimen (08-08-19)
08-08-19, 01:05 PM
#14
I haven't had a chance to pressure test the engine yet, but I'm sort of leaning toward this route anyway to be extra safe. Fortunately, my compression numbers were great (100 psi F, 105 psi R) with around 30k on this rebuild (previous owner), so I'm hoping that most of the expensive parts are reusable.
08-08-19, 03:59 PM
#15
Your engine is already out. Pressure test it with a good pressure tester. We use a Pineapple Racing one. Follow the directions and see if it drops. If it does, then you already have the motor out so it's just tearing it down for a rebuild. I think you are being paranoid. I'm not convinced that's coolant. Possibly condensation.
08-08-19, 04:52 PM
#16
Your engine is already out. Pressure test it with a good pressure tester. We use a Pineapple Racing one. Follow the directions and see if it drops. If it does, then you already have the motor out so it's just tearing it down for a rebuild. I think you are being paranoid. I'm not convinced that's coolant. Possibly condensation.
08-10-19, 10:18 PM
#18
not a good sign, I would definitely try to verifiy if that is coolant or not. atkins sells a pressure tester for like 60 bucks u can bolt to the keg. fill the keg with coolant and pressure it up. As these engines get older, were seeing a lot of coolant seal dike erosion in the 86-95+ cars with the coolant jackets in the irons. causing phantom coolant seal failures for no reason. when it breaks off.
08-13-19, 03:03 PM
#19
And this just came to me the other day that I was thinking about this. When you pulled your turbos you remove coolant lines. Inevitably some of that coolant remains behind and as you move the lines about or as you pull them off, coolant can seep out and go right into that exhaust port. When the engine, because it's out, is not running or burning whatever is in the chambers off, then that coolant, even a small amount is going to live in that chamber until it gets expelled or burned off. I'll be that is what it is. Just some errant coolant that found its way in there via the exhaust port.
08-13-19, 04:31 PM
#20
Good news - received the Pineapple racing CSPT last night and it's held a steady 19psi over the last 12 hours with no signs of coolant leaking into the rotor housings. Thanks you everyone for all of the help and for letting me know that I'm being paranoid. 
I was able to confirm that the droplets I did see were coolant, but after spending sometime with some long swabs, I was able to dry them up and haven't seen any more.
I was able to confirm that the droplets I did see were coolant, but after spending sometime with some long swabs, I was able to dry them up and haven't seen any more.
Last edited by nitewing117; 08-13-19 at 04:34 PM.
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