epitrochoid

I pulled my car out today to give it a wash, and noticed a smalled puddle of green fluid with a black puddle in the middle underneathe the car just inside the passenger front wheel. I'm afraid this may the dreaded coolant leak from warped housings. The thing is, I never go over 4k or more than half throttle until the engine is 5 minutes past coolant warm. I haven't noticed exceptional oil consumption, but the coolant has twice come on briefly during startup but it went out after a minute or two.

I'm pretty sure it's coolant, but it may not be oil in there too. I'm usually the only one that parks there, but sometimes my roomate pulls his POS caddy in my spot, I'm hoping it's from him. Is there anything I can do myself to see if I'm going to have to take it in?

czr

iTrader: (3)

The above is kind off odd. This might sound dumb, for me I don't want to take it to the dealer unless I really have to. Park in a clean spot and see if there is any more stains or you can play it safe tell them what happened to your gauge and take it to the dealer right away.

epitrochoid

well, i paired the coolant light with the recent cooler weather we've been having down here. I checked the level, and it seems to be kosher.

It's parked over a bunch of white towels now, so I'm keeping an eye on it

Astor

I'd start with opening the radiator and checking the levels, also check your oil.

DaveT

Any evidence of water in your oil or on dipstick? Is the suspected point of leak in front of wheel (like under the oil cooler). Check the fittings on the oil cooler as well. Also check your oil for coolant smell. Other than that wait and see if you get any spots on the towel.

epitrochoid

no coolant smell in the oil.

I crawled under the car to take a look. There were no leaks of any sort between the housings (that I could see any way). What I did noticed was on the front of the motor and right above where I found the puddle was some green and black streaks. Looks an awful lot like coolant.

I belive thats the water pump (someone please correct me), which would make sense. Why it's leaking coolant, I don't know, but the oil is probably just from when i dribbled a bit onto the motor when topping it off a few weeks ago. Yesterday was the first time i'd driven in the rain since, so If it got it wet, and then dripped down onto the ground, it would leave the coolant and what oil/grime it picked up on its way. I can't tell for sure, but the source of the green streaks seems to the the hole on the water pump pictured below.

DaveT

You should not have any coolant anywhere that it can drip. Sounds like it may be the mechanical shaft seal failing on the water pump. This is generally due to either very high mileage (like 75,000+) or the bearing behind the seal starting to fail (much more common) which, in turn, causes the seal to fail due to shaft displacement. See if you can grasp the pump pulley and wiggle (rhymes with giggle) the pulley. Any movement at all means it is toast. If you do not continue to get drips, then this may be a freak occurence. If you have additional drips on the towel, then get to your dealer 'cause this is NOT going to fix itself, and the pump should be under warranty.

epitrochoid

Checked the towels last night and found even more fluid. I called first thing this morning and took it in. Carefully drove very slowly to work, and then to the dealership. I told them exactly where I saw the residue, and they came back 20 minutes later saying nothing was wrong. I went into the service bay to see they hadn't even lifted the car, only pressurized the system and there was no loss of pressure. I had them put it on a lift and I directed them to the residue, which in the 50 miles between home, work, and the dealer had at least tripled in amount. The tech said the water pump likely just failed from a manufacturing flaw amplified by the high rpms. They're driving to go get one right now and putting it in tonight, so I'll have my car back tomorrow. They said they'd never seen this before, and as far as I know no one's reported it on here.

BE AWARE!! CHECK OFTEN FOR GREEN SPOTS UNDER YOUR CAR!

The amount that came out in only 50 miles vs everything that had come out before means its getting pregessively worse. I made it to the dealer just in time. If I hadn't noticed the drips, it's likely I would have overheated and toasted the motor. MNAO owes me one.

DaveT

Glad you caught it Epi. Also, good move in not letting them brush you off with a worthless pressure test.
Now, explain the new avitar......

epitrochoid

my new avatar shall be shrouded in secrecy as was my previous one

DaveT

Well, I'm pretty sure it's not a push-pull, flip-flop, binary linear accelerator.
Now, explain the Knight Templar........

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Won't it draw an epitrochoid :D

G8rboy

University of Central Florida Golden Knights?

Mazda Monkey

You will be lucky if it is only the pump (I hope). You may be getting a new engine.

epitrochoid

lets hope so :D

the knight templars were contracted by richard the lionhearted to defend the highways into the holy land during and after the crusades so that christians could make there pilgrimage. my blood lines actually trace back to these guys...it's pretty cool. a form of them eventually became today's freemasonry. theyre belived to have posses many relics of jesus, the holy grail, the shroud, a piece of the cross...

DaveT

Actually the Knights Templar were mostly French who, in fact, carried out some of the middle-ages Crusades in the 12th & 13th centuries. Very successful at making war, they returned from the Crusades very wealthy, and established and/or aquired much land and influence. Most returned to France. The Order was very devout in their Christian faith; charitable to others; and so influentual and politically & militarily powerful that it was eventually challenged by the Catholic church who saw it as a threat. A campaign of suppression by the Catholic church, in alliance with ruling royality, eventually forced the Order out of existence and confiscated their holdings in the early 14th century.

The modern day masonic order of Knights Templar (and I am one) is a branch of freemasonry founded in the charitable and philantropic practices of the original Order. You can Google "Knights Templar" and find a ton of both historical and modern-day information. A direct link to today's order is www.knightstemplar.org

epitrochoid

i used to be involved in Demolay in high school, I'll probably get into masonry when I'm out of school. if you are a member of the Knights Templar, why'd you ask what it meant?!?

DaveT

I didn't ask what it meant. I ask you to explain your use of it in your screen name; which you did. With your involvement in DeMolay, you obviously have a family history in masonry. I'm glad you are interested. Let me know if I can help.

Now, back on thread. Did you get your car back yet? If so, is it fixed?

epitrochoid

yea, picked it up this morning. brand new shiny water pump in place :D

all seems well thus far

zoom44

well i myself wouldnt say out of existence i would say forced to move 'underground' is closer to the truth. i watched a program recently which credited the Knights Templar for creating the first modern banking system in which Preists etc moving around the continent could leave x amount of money at one place, receive a statement to that effect then move to the next place and use that statement to withdraw money from another Knights "office". saved people from losing their funds to robbers while traveling.

edit: either of you know where the Grail is? figure it doesnt hurt to ask

glad your water pump is all squared away epi

DaveT

Well, Zoom, I sure don't. The question is not where the Grail (the cup of Christ) is, but rather, was there even a Grail? I think the answer is that nobody really knows. It's one of history's mysterys, I reckon.

G8rboy

That's good to know it was just the water pump... and you're only the second one I've seen on this board with that problem... but still think it's odd they're failing at all. Did they say it was simply a gasket failure, or a bigger problem with the water pump itself?

epitrochoid

the tech said they just cant handle constant high rpm loads, and that any minor flaw will throw it and any of accesories off balance and ultimentaly lead to failure.

zoom - you should read of on other things the Knights and Masons did that we're 'under the radar'. some say the united states is the mason's ultiment creation, which would make sense because the arabs never liked the Knights Templar.

it's long, but a good read = http://www.enterprisemission.com/tower2.htm
lots of number coincidences, which may just be exactly that, but it is still neat. dave, you ought to check it out too.

EDIT: definately check out the RNG part near the bottom. very interesting.

DaveT

You're right about the article being long. My brain is awash with numbers, and clouded by conclusions I have a hard time grasping. Interesting concept.

dragula53

Read "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown.

His tale of the holy grail is pretty cool.