Engine Overheated-Now leaks coolant

[Exie Ramos]

Hi Guys. I haven't posted in a while-just been lurking a lot as discussions have been around the Gen 2 trac. My 2002 Gen 1, Job 2 Trac has almost 130k miles now an has been running great until I overheated the engine due to a burst heater hose while driving on the freeway. I pulled over as soon as the engine started pinging and I turned off the engine. I fixed the hose and refilled with the pre-mixed 50/50 universal fluid from Prestone. No more leaks and drove as usual. Today 4 days later, I come back from a short errand and I see fluid leaking all over the driveway. I look underneath and I see the fluid is leaking from this bolt that seems to go into the cover for I think may be the timing belt area. Here is a picture in my library of the location of the leak. Can you guys tell me what this is? I don't want to remove the bolt because it might be a bigger job trying to put it back in cause I don't know what it is holding. Is it some type of coolant expansion seal? What do I need to do to fix this? Thanks in advance.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

That same thing happened to us a few weeks ago. Change your thermostat!!! And, possibly your water pump. :unsure: Have the cooling system flushed too. Put on new radiator hoses and change you serpentine belt as well.

 

[Exie Ramos]

Hey Rodger! Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I was thinking of changing at least the thermostat. I changed the upper and lower hoses at 100k miles. Should have done the heater hose as well looking back. How hard is the water pump to replace? It doesn't seem to be leaking at the moment. I'm most concerned right now with fixing the leak at that bolt. Do you know what the bolt is? :huh:

 

[EddieS'04]

I dont think coolant is leak from that bolt. I may be running down from the t-stat housing or water pump.

 

[Exie Ramos]

Fast Eddie, Yep you were right. I dried up all the surfaces after everything cooled down. There was some wetness around pretty much everywhere around the water pump but I though it was just splatter from what I thought was a high pressure leak down at the bolt. After wiping everything up I started up the engine and after about 30secs coolant started running down the water pump body from the pulley/shaft area. Any advise on water pump replacement? Any gotchas that I need to be aware of? It looks like a pretty straightforward job although it looks like its a long job since there's a few things that need to be removed to get at it. Anything else that I should replace while I'm in there? This is my daily driver so I need to get started on it. Thanks!

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

Be sure you put in a new O-ring for the thermostat. I am going to put on a new serpentine belt as soon as I can, and recomend you do the same because of coolant getting on the belt as well as, like mine, it should have been changed out at 100k.

 

[Exie Ramos]

Rodger, I will change the O-Ring when I replace the T-Stat. I didn't replace the o-ring the last time I replaced the T-stat at 100k miles - it still looked good and the gasket that came with the new one was the generic paper type. I did replace the serpentine belt at 100k miles-easy job-no excuse not to but I will replace it again. Anyone know of a place besides the dealer to get the O-ring for the T-stat housing? The chain stores seem to just provide the paper gasket. Also, one of the other heater hoses has a valve in-line (or something). Should I replace that valve too along with all of the other hoses that deliver coolant (engine oil cooler hoses , pcv cooler hoses, etc.)

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

I got the O-ring from the dealer. There are two of them, you only need the upper one. Someone else will have to reply about the inline valve.

 

[EddieS'04]

The valve is for heater temp control. Most likly it is ok...

 

[Richard L]

Do as Rodger said. It's probably caused by a bad Thermostat and the leak may be from the thermostat housing.



Just pray that you did not blow a head gasket, or crack a head. That can get real expensive real fast. Start with the thermostat and keep your fingers crossed that's all that's broken.



...Rich

 

[scott degroot]

Just a little advice while you are in the area of the t-stat. Inspect the t-stat housing very carefully. You will notice that it is actually 2 pieces (other than the t-stat cover) that are molded topgether. In the last 2 weeks I have replaced 4 of these for leaking where they are molded together, usually they start to just wick a little coolant when they are cold and then seal up tight when they get hot but it's just a matter of time before they blow out completely after this process starts.