Coolant Leak

[GSR_BOY]

Hi Guys,
My car has started to leak coolant. It only seems to do it when it is cold and has been sitting un-driven for a while. The leak seems to be coming from around the water pump area and near the water pipe at the rear of the engine. Just wondering if any one else has experienced a problem like this.

I suspect it may be the gasket on the water pump or an o-ring in the water pipe, that is buggered... but when things warm up and everything metallic expands, it seems to seal itself up.

How hard is it to get all of this stuff off?? and replace if need be??

Any other ideas....

 

[mimmo_gsr]

I had similar problems with my GSR a while back but it turned out to be the water pump...

What happens is there is an internal seal on the water pump and when that goes there is a little hole on the side of the pump where the coolant leaks from.

It started as a small hole then got bigger as I ignored the problem (not really ignored, just put aside for a week or so until I had time to fix it). Well the hole got bigger and all my coolant disapeared one day so I had to get it towed home!

Pretty easy to get these parts (its a 4G93 right??).

I paid:

Water Pump = $90 (Non Genuine)
Timing Belt = $50 (Bosch)
Alternator Belt = $20 (Bosch)
Clamps, Coolant = $50

All this stuff came from Repco (2003 prices)

Labor was me

You may also wish to look at Cam seals, Main Seal, tensioner while you are at it, becuase to change the water pump you need to take the Cam Belt off...easier to replace all these things while its apart than have to re-do at a later date unecessarily.

As you can see parts aren't that expensive, but it can be very fiddly setting the timing if you are inexperienced in this.

Best of luck

Mimmo

 

[3zercrowd]

This happened to me at the end of last year
Needed new water pump and gasket. $115 for a better than standard water pump.

Interesting enough the last person to do the water pump did not use a gasket...just sealant :roll: :evil:

 

[mimmo_gsr]

Yeah gaskets have gone in favour of silicone sealant that remains tacky indefinately. It never hardens so it never dries out and can't crack.

Mimmo

 

[GSR_BOY]

Thanks guys.. I need to do a major service and replace the timing belt and water pump etc. anyway. It's done almost 190k.
So I guess I'll get to it all in the one hit.
I was going to get a mechanic to do the timing belt change and water pump, how much should I expect to pay for something like this including parts??

 

[mimmo_gsr]

I would think around $400-$450 or even less it all depends.

Water Pump - $115
Belts (Timing, Alternator, Powersteer/Aircon, Cambelt) - $145
Coolant - $50

Are you going to do the main seal and cam seals? That will be another $20-$30 maybe

Then labour on top of that, maybe 3-4 hours x$60/hr

So $490ish, I would suggest ringing your mechanic or Mitsubishi for a quote, it should be around that fig, but hopefully a little less. But that is kinda standard cambelt service, my brother paid $600 for a Golf as VW bits tend to cost more.

Can you let us know what it ends up costing you with a break down of the costs if possible. Just so we can keep track on what these kind things are costing. Helps people budget for the future

Mimmo

 

[GSR_BOY]

Sure.
I'm going overseas for a few weeks and will get it done when I get back. I will let you all know with a cost breakdown of how much it'll end up costing me. I will probably do everything, so including the cam seals etc. and all fluids and filters.

Thanks for your help mimmo and everyone else.