Bill Ball

Heinrich:

Er, uh, you're right. Scratch that, You'd think with all the TBs I've done, I wouldn't make that mistake.

Maybe you could just kinda hold the cap there over the rotor.

heinrich

Dude I did that too the other day ... I looked funny standing there ready to bolt her back on

touque

alright - here goes:

Wally: Will check the 'Vee' but also am going to pull the timing covers off to check things out. I don't have a Kempf tool but will do a visual with the water pump and seeing if it's turning along with the belt. I have a Devek radiator so I can't inspect the end-tanks... I noticed some mess down the driver's side of the rad (below the oil line) and now am wondering if this is a 'new' or an old mess.

Bill: I was thinking about running it without the cover(s) but was going to verify I could first! You answered that one for me... I'm going to verify the coolent level tonight.

Heinrich: Good tip on the cover and distributor cap - I probably would have stood there for a while trying to figure out how to mount the damn thing!

Thanks guys - I think (cough, cough) I just may be sick tomorrow and might have to stay home from work so I can take the covers off and start troubleshooting


Troy

mark kibort

I think he means the center cover, and mount the distributor cap covers. I think those are kind of important! (interesting design!)

mk

AO

one other thought just came to mind... if your cap isn't holding pressure anymore, your fluid could be bubling over and dripping down on to the exhaust.

But on second thought, probably not, as pressure is highest after the engine is off, so you would have seen a puddle in all likelihood. Worth mentioning anyway.

mark kibort

Good idea. However, if there is not pressure in the system, it could be a leak as you mention, and it may not be in the cap. usually, the cap is for overflow if you have a boil over and to keep pressure so that the boiling point is raised.
If the water is not 210degrees , then you really dont even need a cap. (you do, but you get my point)

check to see i there is good pressure when at operating temp. if not, there could be leaks in the head gasket or waterpump.

mk

touque

OK - well I know a little more this morning...

I took the cam belt covers off (that was really fun btw, no kidding!!) and was able to determing that the water pump pulley was indeed rotating along with the belt. No seizure there so my biggest issue of a seized H2O pump causing belt then valve failure is somewhat over (still, you never know).

While I was in there, I did the Jager belt tension pluck test since I don't have a Kempf tool (yet). My twang was just like the .wav file so I think I'm OK with my tension.

Next is to start looking into the other possibilities you all mentioned. At least this time I can feel confident that I can bring the car up to temperature without a lot of clank-clank-clanking going on.

touque

well well well, Mark you were closest to the pin!

After I buttoned-up the cam covers, I took the car myself for a hard-earned spin through town. Got back and of course still smelled coolant but couldn't see a leak anywhere. Came back to the car 1/2 an hour later and this is what I saw:

cool! Now I have a leak that I'll just have to find - should be a piece of cake. It was coming from the rear of engine. Once I took the air filter housing off, it was immediately apparent that the coolant hose that connects to the heater valve must have a split in it and sure enough it did. When I replaced the valve 2 months ago, I didn't tighten the clamp down correctly, causing a nick and weakening the hose, eventually causing a split.

Cut off the offending part, put things back together and we were on our way.

Thanks to all for your suggestions...

I was a bit panicked about the H2O pump but just wanted to make sure...

Troy

Bill Ball

That little hose is a known weak point and should be replaced with the valve. Did you mention that you had done the valve?

touque

Actually, Bill, I did replace the little hose when I replaced the valve (the metal NAPA one), but it was the big hose that had a split (you were also 'close to the pin' when suggesting to look in the Vee). It wasn't due to the hose just failing on its own, I'm pretty sure it was when I didn't put the hose clamp on correctly at first and must have pinched the hose...

anyways, that's just like me... while I'm fixing something, I somehow manage to tweak it before I get to fix it correctly! hehe

AO

Excuse me? On 2-13-05 I said,



Glad you found the culprit.

touque

oops!

sorry, didn't mean to omit your diagnosis Doc. Andrew!!

thanks for your help!

Troy