Water pump weep hole.

[Wevster]

Hi All,

After installing motor back into car, with a new water pump, I put the rad back in this morning and topped up with coolant, after about 6 litres it started leaking from the weep hole just under the pump! Have I installed the pump wrongly and does it need to come out! Or can the hole be bunged up?
Any suggestions would appreciated.

Cheers

Kev

[Hawksfield]

Hi Wevster

The only way is to remove the chain case to ascertain the reason. if its running out from gravity only something is wrong
You could have the seal the wrong way round.
You are not the first this has happened to, not that it makes you feel better

[Wevster]

Yeh, that's what I thought, a bit of a pain, will have to strip down again, oh well that's life!

Cheers

Kev.

[billwill]

Do not seal the weep hole (except for emergency get-you-home-travel)

It is your indicator that the seal has failed. If you block it the water will fill the intermediate chamber and attack the main bearing eventually leading to main bearing rusting and failure,

[rgh0]

Try spinning the pump by hand or using an electric drill if you can. The new seal may not have seated properly and spinning it may get it to seat and seal. If it continues to leak then unfortunately its a front cover off again job to find out whats wrong.

cheers
Rohan

[512BB]

A couple of years ago, a mate of mine finished the best restoration of an Elan you are ever likely to see, under my guidance of course He was not an elanman prior. The car featured in a large magazine article thereafter.

However, came the time in the restoration to fire her up, I was not present, but I get the emergency phone call. Engine will not start !!!! I dash down there, turns out the timing is 180 degrees out, easily sorted.

What was not so easily sorted was the water pouring out of the drain hole in the front cover. Cue many expletives and much head scratching. Did you fit the seal, did you fit it the right way round, did you do this, did you do that ? Yes to all questions.

I had heard that there were some dodgy water pump kits on the market, and there had been some talk about this new ceramic type washer / seal that you get in the Burton kits these days, not sealing. In days of old, the only seal in Lotus supplied kit was a rubber washer, and there were never any problems with them. Straight out the box they sealed and away you went.

So, what to do. Two options as I saw it. You could either remove engine and investigate, or you could run the engine and hope that the problem lay in the seal not doing what it was supposed to, but that it would eventually. Having built a lovely engine, Richard was very reluctant to start tearing it apart, and therefore it was decided to just run the engine up to temperature a few times, topping up the coolant all the while, to see what happened.

After a few cycles, it was observed that the coolant exiting the drain hole was decreasing. Long faces becoming less long, and it was then decided to take it out for a run, with a gallon of coolant on board. Over the next few weeks, several trips out were made until TA DAH, no more coolant loss, and it has been fine ever since.

From this experience, we deduced that there was either a burr or something preventing the ceramic washer from sealing straight off, or that they just take a little time to bed in.

Give your engine a try Kev, it may well be okay in the end. When you start off, leave the radiator cap off and just fast idle it, topping up as the coolant leaks out. Don't try this as you are driving along do it in the garage.

Keep the faith Kev, if you assenbled it correctly, it will seal in the end.

Best of luck with it,

Leslie

[Wevster]

Thanks for all the advice given, spun it up with electric drill to no avail, so decided to rip it down, take a look at pic's, where did I go wrong? Followed the manual but as never done one before so may have something in the wrong order.

Kev

[Hawksfield]

scan0001.pdf

(514.69 KiB) Downloaded 481 times

Hi Kev

I think you have installed it incorrectly see Diagram

Good luck

[Wevster]

Cheers Hawksfield
Looks like I misplaced the metal spacer/slinger thingy and put it on last, when it should've put it on first! When I push it into chest housing should I apply sealant?

Kev.

[billwill]

You only have 1 o-ring instead of 2 in the grooves of the toroidal part and the grooves are messy. clean out all old sealant and clean the grooves with fine emery paper. Wash & wipe well to avoid emery dust getting into the engine.

These normally seal it into the timing case front. If the aperture is a bit grotty, I usually smear a thin film of silicone rubber over that surface before putting it in.

The impellor must be pressed on to the correct distance too to cause the ceramic seal to press its partner surfaces together. You do it by checking with a feeler gauge between the implellor blades and the toroid. Alas I've forgotten the clearance figure.

Did you have to guess all this without the old waterpump to inspect?

[billwill]

I described water pump assembly, dissassembly on page 4 of this topic:

lotus-twincam-f39/aks-water-pump-module-strip-t28923-45.html?hilit=water%20pump%20assemble

The black carbon surface is usually a white ceramic surface nowadays.


Hmm sorry that the Burton picture referrered to is no longer there.

[Wevster]

Thanks billwill

There were 2 sealing o rings fitted, it just came off during disassembley. The old pump was slightly different design and I had trouble getting it off and had to get a friend with a press to press it off, and so parts got muddled. I followed the lotus manual but for some reason put the slinger in wrongly. (Brain fade). I'll clean up and try again.
You didn't say regards the slinger and seleant, when it's pushed into timing chest, it's a snug fit, however as you can see the alloy is a bit corroded.

Kev.

[miked]

Only looked at photo's, not read it all but Metal top hat not in correct place. Goes into alloy part (pressed) and rubber spring part with wear black graphite looking part after. Looks built up in wrong order. Mike

[miked]

Yes, your second photo has the top hat behind the impellor if your photos are mean't to be order of dismantle.
Mike

[Wevster]

Cheers Mike

Yes they are in order as I took it apart and yep your right, for some reason I put the metal spacer on last instead of first!
I'm in the process of rebuilding pump unit, and waiting for new o-rings as one has enlarged a bit, making it loose.
I'll post new pictures later.

Kev.