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Coolant leak from water pump to block gasket seal


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1993 Legacy 2.2L 5spd has a coolant leak at the bottom part of water pump gastek after replacing the radiator cap, the old had 0lbs the new has 9lbs.

 

The pump bolts were loose and the gasket replaced 60Kmi ago turned to mush.

 

Just a steady and fast coolant leak until radiator runs dry.

 

The new gasket with carefully torqued bolts 7ft-lbs did better but still has a leak a drop a second from the same spot.

 

Could the water pump be warped?

Will try to check with a straight edge for flatness.

Edited by illanrob
Leak persists with new gasket
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The timing belt change is due at 210K 3rd belt, the car has almost 200K, the water pump replaced at 160K 4 years ago. The old water pump was very noisy as it approached total failure and is located on the driver side head. This leak is from the bottom of the block just in front of the oil pan, an is at the water pump. All 6 bolts were loose, my doing althouth it lasted several years.

 

I got disoriented looking up and confused the two pumps thus posted on this forum for a sanity check. Thanks for the reply.

 

Note that the manual does have a water pump tightening sequence 1 (upper driverside) clockwise to 6 (upper passenger side) bolt order.

 

A 22MM socket takes the crank pulley off.

Edited by illanrob
Dissorinted on location of leak
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There are NO coolant passages in the oil pump.

The water pump is NOT attached to the head. It is attached to the block and is less than 1/4" away from the side of the oil pump.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/Freakness/Update%2021/Motorviewshowingwaterpumpinstalled.jpg

You probably have a failed water pump gasket or block plug seal.

 

Crank pulley bolt is 22mm.

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  • 2 years later...

I have this precise problem too, 1996 Legacy, H4 2.0L engine.

I took the entire engine apart to clean and assembled it with 100% new gaskets.

 

Subaru service manual says I need to tight the screws to 10Nm+4-0, first attempt I went to 12Nm, second attempt I tried 14Nm, third attempt I was pissed off and tried to glue both sides of the gasket with Loctite 5699 Gasket sealant, In the 4th attempt I tried using a sandpaper in the flanges and gasket to improve gluing, used the same glue and original gasket, tightened to 16Nm (that's 20% more torque than the limit on the service manual, 60% more than the recommended value).

 

I don't know what else to try, the water pump and the engine block were both measured and there are no bends at all in either flange.

Please someone help, If nobody has an answer to me I will try to glue the pump to the engine block without the gasket (like the engine block and oil pan and oil pump), but I really didn't want to decrease the gap - please help!  :o

 

Thanks!

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Are you using a new Subaru OEM water pump gasket (metal)?  If not, the third-party gaskets sold at auto parts stores really suck.  

I tried one of those papery monsters on a whim while waiting for other parts and it absolutely did not work.  Once I got my OEM gasket from a dealer, I used some very fine sandpaper and sanded the water pump and the block where the pump sits.  This solved my leak.

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a very talented and knowledgeable subaru mechanic who posts here every day claims to use no gasket.

he just uses RTV, like the oil pump.

 

i did a timing belt / water pump change once,

and i failed to tighten one of the bolts.

i just missed it.

it leaked like a sieve.

 

that is when i learned to refill with water until you are sure there are no leaks.

and to test run the engine with the t-belt on, but the covers off, to see if it is right.

way easier to go back if the covers are not yet on.

  • Like 1
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Yes everybody, I only use original subaru stuff from subaru dealer. Steel painted black in this particular case.

 

I guess tomorrow morning I'll try trashing the OEM gasket and going for the glue... thanks for the tip john

I'll post my results when I'm done.

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There must be some serious wear on that mating surface if a dealer gasket won't seal. Are you sure all of the old gasket material is removed from the pump and block? Should see nothing but shiny clean aluminum.

Is the pump new? It's possible the bolts were over tightened originally and warped the pump housing.

 

You could try RTV or paint the gasket with Indian Head gasket shellac. Indian head takes a while to dry but makes a very good seal.

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ISubaru service manual says I need to tight the screws to 10Nm+4-0, first attempt I went to 12Nm, second attempt I tried 14Nm, third attempt I was pissed off and tried to glue both sides of the gasket with Loctite 5699 Gasket sealant, In the 4th attempt I tried using a sandpaper in the flanges and gasket to improve gluing, used the same glue and original gasket, tightened to 16Nm (that's 20% more torque than the limit on the service manual, 60% more than the recommended value).

 

something else is wrong - these things are cake and always easily seal when installed properly 100% of the time.  i almost can't believe that sealant was used and it leaked, that doesn't make any sense at all.

 

that's a lot of work already - i'd check threads of every bolt hole and make sure they're clean and not stripped.

maybe use longer bolts to catch more/deeper/unused threads.

get a new water pump

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I am sure there is no wear, no bending and no materials from the old gasket.

Clean, shiny and tidy. Just very little scratched cause I used sandpaper to glue the RTV thingy twice.

I just didn't try to RTV without the OEM gasket, cause I didn't want to change the gap distance, but since someone here already does that I guess there won't be any problem.

 

Just a strange observation I have to add, looks like RTV has poor adhesion to the gasket itself, it's probably made to adhere to aluminium or steel directly and the gasket is painted (rubber-coated someone said here).

 

I will just be obsessively extra sure that I won't overglue the flange, cause the hole where the coolant goes into the engine block is so tiny, omg! I would risk a guess: Subaru designed all the flanges but the engine head to use RTV, but here manual tells people to use the gasket, so there's no risk of gluing the hole itself :banghead:  LoL  :ph34r:

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Applying the RTV sealant and screwing the pump on the block took me 9 minutes, way below the 20 minutes limit of "dry to the touch" time that says on the packing. Mission Completed.

Used no gasket this time, hope there is really no problem at all.

 

Still concerned about this:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/power_news_--_how_to_blow_up_an_engine.htm

Let's see what happens!

 

Will wait 24h to dry, only then I'll put the glycol back on the engine to test.

Time for a pint!  :drunk:

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i wouldn't have any concern at all just using sealant or the gap distance.  a tiny fraction shouldn't affect it that much at all.  these pumps/timing belt set up are robust and issues are almost unheard of so they should be very forgiving.

 

hope that works.  what a strange debacle.  thousands upon thousands of these are done without issue...something odd is happening here.

Edited by grossgary
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I guess it's a no-go.

Tested and retested, engine idling leaks about 3 table spoons of glycol for every hour running.

I'm tired and depressed about this situation.

And now I discovered the steering oil pump js leaking too...

My grand dad is probably gonna sell the car after this. =(

Edited by Pierobon
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I guess it's a no-go.

Tested and retested, engine idling leaks about 3 table spoons of glycol for every hour running.

I

 

it's not the seal/gasket area.  I think you're trying to repair somethign that's not an issue. 

 

I would replace the water pump first if you can't find the issue.  It may have a hairline crack or gap somewhere that's opening when thermal cycling and leaking.

 

1. The water pump has a casting flaw or crack, compromise in it

2. There's a casting flaw in the block

 

Casting flaws can expand/contract with heat and leak only at high temps and be difficult to find.

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power steering pumps have a shaft seal and rear gasket as well.  there's a rebuild kit for them from Subaru.  failure is very rare, rebuilds or used pumps are the alternative to the high cost of a new Subaru one.

 

Problem is that I already replaced it, again original subaru part.

you got that oring from Subaru?  i didn't even know they sold it here in the states!?

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power steering pumps have a shaft seal and rear gasket as well.  there's a rebuild kit for them from Subaru.  failure is very rare, rebuilds or used pumps are the alternative to the high cost of a new Subaru one.

 

you got that oring from Subaru?  i didn't even know they sold it here in the states!?

my problem has nothing to do with the power steering shaft or gasket. what's leaking is the o-ring in the bottom of the oil reservoir.

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my problem has nothing to do with the power steering shaft or gasket.

what's leaking is the o-ring in the bottom of the oil reservoir.

 

you must be the unluckiest subaru owner in the world.

the only positive thing so far is that the head gaskets are ok.

thank goodness for the reliable? ej22.

 

first the water pump that will not seal.

and now the steering pump that will not seal.

unbelievable.

 

i can understand why your frustration.

i wish i could help more.

 

.

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Mine is EJ20, I'm gonna remove all covers, fire up the engine and look for the leak point with some camera or mirror or loupe or idk. I know it will be easy to find cause i'm using a very blue glycol in the system instead of just water.

I'll post here when I have news.

 

Thanks for everything anyways!

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