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Unidentified water leak. Pump?
https://forums.tipec.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=12516		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  Althejazzman [ Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Unidentified water leak. Pump?
My 944 is leaking, but I can only see the fluid dripping off the outside of the crank-case.
Here's a video. You can see it drip at 0:48
http://youtu.be/YDlNqRiY8MI

Some pictures of the dripping, plus some of the pump pulley:

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I look forward to your help!
Author:  A9XXC [ Sat Mar 10, 2012 1:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
Could be pump but not necessarily. What have you been doing to it? Is the engine hot? have you just refilled and bled it?
Water can find its way all over the place before being seen!
Author:  Althejazzman [ Sat Mar 10, 2012 1:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
Last weekend, this happened: http://forums.tipec.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=12477
I towed it home and haven't run it since. Today I started bleeding it passively, then noticed the leak. I had been topping it up with de-mineralised water through the bleed screw, with the heater hose off to bleed it. It leaked almost plain water then.
Author:  A9XXC [ Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
Ok - would check hose connections first, make sure they are correctly seated and tight - especially top hose to block near the bleed screw and the bottom hose to the pump also the bleed screw (should be removed anyway whilst filling the system) and also look carefully for any damage to the hoses, especially near the clips It could be the pump as they dont like being run when dry which could have happened last week, I do have a spare pump of my old 2.5, which was working fine and is obviously a replacement unit, but I dont know when. If it got really hot with no water you could have warped something but they are pretty tough lumps.

Id try filling the the system, squeezing the larger pipes and removing the top hose from the block and using that to fill the rad (squeezing the bottom hose will help)

Good luck
Author:  Althejazzman [ Sat Mar 10, 2012 8:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
Success - I hope!

Thanks for your assistance Mike. You gave me the glimmer of hope that it might just work. Bleeding was not a problem once I worked out how to do it. I filled her up through the bleed screw hole, the heater matrix pipe, and the expansion tank.

How pleased was I when the thermostat kicked in and the temperature gained control. I left her to heat up a bit more for the fan to come in, it all worked!

Went on the best drive I've ever had. It was so reassuring to see the temperature needle in the middle.

BUT....when I arrived home, it was quite hot as a result of my excited driving, and the fan didn't switch on. The temperature hadn't quite reached the red. Let's hope it does come on again when needed.

Obviously I will be keeping an eye on everything, especially any potential leaks, and fluid levels. The best bit is that I've proved that it works! :D :D :D :D
Author:  Althejazzman [ Mon Mar 12, 2012 1:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
Update: Still no leaks to report or loss of fluid.

Now, what's next on the problem (I mean challenge) list?
Author:  A9XXC [ Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
Good news Alex, thanks for keeping us up to date.
Author:  Althejazzman [ Mon Apr 23, 2012 7:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
All is not as it seems. Coolant level has been steadily dropping, so my local garage put the car on the ramp today for a better inspection of the above (plus a few other things.)

On their nice clean workshop floor, clear green coolant is happily dripping out of the same place as above, so they're going to take a closer look tomorrow, but we think it is the water pump.

On top of that, it seems that I took a shortcut that has not saved me anything. Back in January, I didn't have much money, so I bought a used radiator off eBay, apparently tested leak free. Well, it's leaking, from the join between the aluminium fins and the plastic edges.

So this means I need:
£250 radiator
£250 water pump

To do the pump, I therefore need:
£45 both belts
£53 Flywheel lock.

Ouch.

These are the prices from Porscheshop. Does anyone have any other recommendations?
Author:  KatPorsche [ Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
Oh no :0( that's no good. :(

I bought a new radiator for £180 from here, next day delivery.

http://www.adrad.co.uk/prices/prices.ph ... ke=PORSCHE

although, it's not much of a saving really.

Are you planning to do the work yourself?
Author:  KatPorsche [ Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
and if the water pump is leaking, maybe you just need a new gasket/seal for it? I would imagine that as long as the water pump is at least working, the only reason why it would leak would be due to a bad seal somewhere?
Author:  Althejazzman [ Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
I can certainly do a radiator change myself. I'm anxious about putting the new belts on, and setting the tension right. Any experienced mechanic I have spoken to would disregard any special tensioning tool, and go for the 90 degree twist guess. Yet all the references to it on here and Clarks say you need one of the fancy very expensive things.

Perhaps I just need a pump gasket? I suppose I really need to do the lot.

Oh and thanks for the link Kat. That's a good saving. Mind you, if I speak nicely to Keith, he might be able to order parts cheaply, but I would have to make it worth his while.
Author:  KatPorsche [ Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
Check out this thread, it sounds like a similar problem to what you have:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche- ... 944-a.html
Author:  Althejazzman [ Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
KatPorsche wrote:
Check out this thread, it sounds like a similar problem to what you have:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche- ... 944-a.html


Yup, that's right, plus a radiator. I don't think I'll skimp on a re-manufactured water pump. A proper new one will give me much better piece of mind.

I am so bored with repairing cooling systems. It's all I've done on both vehicles for the past year. At least I know what I'm doing for most of it.
Author:  KatPorsche [ Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
same here, I have water leaks on both the 944 and the VW Van now too. Why did they bothered with water cooling, air cooled is much less problematic.

I just wanted to say, that if you order a rad from Advanced Radiators, make sure you get the one for your model as the link I sent is for the 944 Turbo. Also, I just noticed - when I purchased mine back in November last year, they charged me £177 delivered. So the prices have gone up quite considerably since then. :(
Author:  Althejazzman [ Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Unidentified water leak. Pump?
What sort of water leak do you have on your 944?
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