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1G Major coolant leak from timing side of engine.

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AlaskanDsm

15+ Year Contributor
1,121
14
Oct 21, 2007
Fairbanks, Alaska
**re-opened thread**

See post #22 for update.

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Okay, So I will give a quick run down, then my thoughts, and looking for anything that I have missed with suggestions or confirmations.

I got to work the other day and I noticed that may car was leaking like crazy from the driver side of my car. I tried to identify the cause of the leak but I knew right away that there was only 2 things that could leak from the area I was looking at. Basically the coolant was running all down the pulleys and all over the belts.

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With this knowledge and additional diag of the car without dissassembly, I have narrowed the issue down to the water pump itself. I do not believe that the leak is being caused by the water pipe o-ring due to the fact that the water is running from(what looks like) behind the water pump pulley and not down the pipe itself being as that area faces slightly down towards the front of the car.

Now the other things I have observed safely while car is at idle and verifying the level of the coolant, would be that inspection of the timing belt is DRY! And all the coolant is running down on the outside of the timing cover.

With that being said I feel that I could safely rule out a headgasket or water pump gasket leak. By eliminating those 2, the only 3 other options that I can consider is:

- crack in the water pump
- problem with the seep hole (if it has one?)
- leak from the pulley shaft seal to impeller.

Thoughts? Opinions? Suggestions?

Currently in the process of getting the timing cover off to get a better view of the problem but before I get to it, I just thought I would ask. I am also not unwilling to consider the water pump gasket, just seems unlikely.

Thanks!

**UPDATE**

Well I ripped apart the rest of timing side to get to the water pump and once I got the ALT belt and water pulley back on after getting the timing cover out, I added water to the system, and before I could start it this time, it was running onto the ground!! Got under there and started looking around... the damn seep hole was the cuplrit... Plugged it with my finger and water stopped running... So it looks like I am getting a new water pump.. as well as replacing my timing cover... It has a lot of belt rash on it. Thanks for the help guys!
 
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You probably have the cams one tooth off. You can get them to line up one tooth off but the belt will not line up with the crank. Turn the exhaust cam back one tooth on the belt and use some big clips to hold the belt to the pulleys and slide the belt around the crankshaft.
 
You probably have the cams one tooth off. You can get them to line up one tooth off but the belt will not line up with the crank. Turn the exhaust cam back one tooth on the belt and use some big clips to hold the belt to the pulleys and slide the belt around the crankshaft.

If I rotate the exhaust cam backwards anymore, the timing marks will no longer line up. I already had to rotate the cam as it was to get the marks to line up on the cam gears. If I have the timing marks on the cams not lined up properly, I would be very surprised. I have tried verifying that I have them lined up properly but I don't know of any other ways than what I have tried.
 
It's the autoadjuster and the pulley that's causing your small issue.

Yes, it's a no-brainer to get marks aligned up on the cam sprockets (a four year old can be taught this step-so easy) since you already have the belt on and with the belt clamped over the sprockets by the device that you're using to hold the belt in place while you're lacing up the lower part of the assembly. Thus, the cam sprocket marks will never move out of adjustment. You've got that area of the timing all settled in.

the clearance for the autoadjuster has to be set right for the marks to be dead on with working with the clearance and the pulley. I've experienced the half getting there as well - you just have to work with it to where it'll settle down and everything will set into place.
 
You can have one of the cams a tooth off either way and the marks will still appear to line up, they will just be a tad higher or lower than they should be, but they will still line up. The crank however will be 1/2 a tooth off.

The way that i do it, i take the tensioner out as a factor.I put the belt around the cams, get them lined up and clamp them to the pulleys. From there i put he belt around the rear idler pulley, than around the oil pump. From there i roll the crank back a tooth and install the belt on it, from there you turn the crank back to the mark which will take out all the slack and then slide the belt over the tensioner pulley. If the marks aren't lined up, it's not right. The idea is to keep the slack on the tensioner side.
 
Being that I have not released the hydronic tensioner yet, I will attempt what you said Bryan. I will also attempt to get some pictures posted as to show where everything is lined up currently. But I have a feeling that it isn't going to make a difference. I seem to recall when I rebuilt the engine we had the same problem. I think it is from the milling of the head and block that may be causing the minor offset of the sprocket... But I could definitely be wrong.
 
Ok so after attempting what Bryan suggested, this was the outcome which was the same as the previous attempts.

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Now I believed this to be correct and so I pulled the Cam sensor and just turned the engine over and did not hear anything out of the normal for head noises. So I went ahead and reconnected the cam sensor and started the car. The car ran normally without any odd noises or "loping" like it had cams or anything else. I had some misfires but I think that is because my ECU reset the injectors back to 660's when I only have the stock ones in currently.

I am glad the car ran normally but does anyone have any ideas as to why the timing marks seem to be off slightly?
 
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That is most certainly not right on the cams or the crank. You need to roll the exhaust cam back another tooth, not both cams only the exhaust, Your marks line up, but they are too high, there are 3 possible combinations where the marks will line up. Only one will make the crank line up.
 
Okay so let me make sure that I have this right.

I need to rotate the exhaust cam gear 1 tooth clockwise which will knock out the alignment of the timing marks. But after moving the exhaust cam, if I re-align the timing marks for the cams, the crankshaft will have rotated 1 half tooth clockwise as well allowing for all the timing marks to line up properly... correct?
 
Okay so let me make sure that I have this right.

I need to rotate the exhaust cam gear 1 tooth clockwise which will knock out the alignment of the timing marks. But after moving the exhaust cam, if I re-align the timing marks for the cams, the crankshaft will have rotated 1 half tooth clockwise as well allowing for all the timing marks to line up properly... correct?

Yeah pretty much. Roll the exhaust gear back one tooth on the belt than rotate both cams forward a half tooth with the belt on to line up the marks.
 
Okay. I am ditching work early today anyways haha. I should have enough daylight to take the WP and HB pulleys off and get that belt readjusted to be correct. Then I should be good to go. Odd thing is that it seemed to run fine... Whatever haha I just want it to be right.

Thanks for the help man. I have just been overly frustrated with this so I have probably just been overlooking the smallest things. I will posted back over moving them forward and load some new pictures as well.

***Update***

Thank you Bryanwheat!! I was indeed one tooth off on the exhaust side. I am sorry for not listening to you earlier. Frustration just got the better half of me. Now everything lines up just perfect!! Also, the slight misfire I was hearing the first time I started it has gone away. Now I just have to reassemble the timing side of the engine and it will be juuuuuust peachy!

Perfectly aligned with the head.
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All notches are lined up as they are supposed to be.
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Thank you all!
 
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