I was planning on taking Serenity ('97 OBW w/ the EJ22 swap) down home this weekend for a family get together (Daytona 500 party! WOOT! ). Call it a 3 -1/2 hour drive, ~200 miles.

 

I popped under the hood tonight to drain the oil, and discovered coolant leaking from the timing belt cover. It's definitely seeping from the cover, and I can't find any coolant on the top of the engine, so I'm thinking it's a water pump leak. Just a slow leak right now.

 

Now that I've got a garage (moved into a new house a month ago), I was planning on pulling the engine this spring and "overhauling" it (rear main oil seal since it's leaking, new plugs & wires, new t-belt and related, etc).

 

I don't drive her often, as we usually take my wife's 08 OBS for errands when it's the two of us. I drive a company vehicle for work, so Serenity's more of a pleasure vehicle or a backup when the wife's got her OBS.

 

That all being said, the wife's got other plans for her ride before I'm back. What're the odds that Serenity's pump will hold together long enough for me to get back home? Or should I put my foot down, demand that the wife find an alternative mode of transportation Monday, commandeer her OBS, and suffer the marital consequences?

What year is the 2.2. If it's an interference engine, I would change the pump. A few hours and you are done. You can save the rest of the work for later.

 

Most likely the rear seal is not leaking, but the air/oil seperator plate needs to be resealed.

'95, so it's a non-interference. If the pump seizes on the way down, I know it'll shred the t-belt, and I'm dead in the water. It'll be a PITA to deal with it on the side of the road, a couple hours from home, but it ain't the end of the world.

 

I'm nearly certain the rear main oil seal is leaking, too, since I'm nearly certain I'm the cause of it . The fellows I enlisted to help swap out my clutch convinced me that the oil we found in the bell housing was due to the rear main oil seal. I should've mentioned the plate, but didn't think of it (my father was a month away dying from cancer, and at the time of the swap, giving me crap for not hanging out with him instead of fixing the car so I could get down to him more often).

 

So I swapped out the seal... ten minutes before I tapped it into place, my dad reamed me out again, and I took the frustration out by tapping that seal about a 1/4" too deep. It started leaking almost immediately thereafter, but slow enough that I thought I'd put it off 'til I swap out the t-belt and what not.

I lost an engine on the interstate due to a failed water pump. Leaked out all the coolant, fatal overheat. Replace it now.

Bstone, the wife agrees with you. I'll be driving her OBS down home, and she'll get a ride from her sister tomorrow to her marathon tomorrow.

 

The plot thickens, though. I had started it up briefly to move it from the driveway to the garage. I noticed the leak after sticking my head under the car to pull the drain plug, then came inside to post this thread.

 

Seein' as there's not much I can do about it now, I went on with the oil change. I usually fire up the engine afterwards to check for leaks. This time, I wiped down the leaking coolant, slipped clean cardboard underneath, then ran the engine temp up to normal.

 

Of course, the cardboard's clean.

 

So it looks like it's only leaking when it's cold. Regardless, I'll be keeping her garaged until I pick up the spare funds to do everything else, including the water pump.