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[Paulus62]

Good afternoon OOF,

After looking through the forum last week I decided to check the coolant in my 2001 2.6 CDX Estate, only to find that the gravity was that of just water (blue dye made it look ok, I suspect) 

I flushed the system thought as per the guide (plus a few more to be sure) and refilled with 50:50 mix of the red antifreeze. The car ran fine that day doing about 20 miles, yesterday I travelled 50 miles, most on the A55 and when I arrived home parking on a slope, the coolant level warning came on. I checked the level & it was just below the point the float isn't floating, I topped it up and gave the engine a quick look over, with nothing apparent I put it down to not burping all the air out before.

This morning I got into the car and the coolant warning showed on staring her up! On checking the level it was down to the bottom of the header tank & took 1 litre to bring it back to the mark. At this point I saw coolant coming from the front of the engine  A closer look shows it running from the passenger side around the water pump, although the timing belt cover does not allow me to see directly.

This brings me to my questions, is the water pump the likely cause or  is there other possibilities in that area? If it is the water pump, would I be right in thinking that I need to do the timing belt as well? (I've just got the dvd on how to do the V6 although it shows the 2.5 I'm assuming the 2.6 is only different in the DBW ? ) Then finally, if the answer to both is yes, where should I get the belt kit from & where can you get the setting gauges?

I have looked through & did a search on these without anything coming up, so if it is covered somewhere else my apologies.

Thanks in anticipation & some dread,

Paul

[Elite Pete]

Hi Paul.

It could be the water pump or it could be coming from in the middle of the V. There are a number of things there it could be, thermostat, oil cooler cover plate and depending if the car is parked face down it could also be the coolant bridge.

[Paulus62]

Hi Paul.

It could be the water pump or it could be coming from in the middle of the V. There are a number of things there it could be, thermostat, oil cooler cover plate and depending if the car is parked face down it could also be the coolant bridge.

Ohhhh!!!!

Thanks Pete,
Where do I go from here? Bearing in mind that I'm okay following instructions, etc., to do things but I'm not a mechanic, my knowledge of engines comes from being shown how to or have a haynes manual which they don't do for this engine, so if it's not on here I stuck   

[v6man54deg Geffd]

Its probably your water pump - I had to do mine a few months ago on my 2.6 - the good news is you can do it without removing the timing belt its even possible to remove it with the timing cover still on on the 2.6 as the water pump hole does allow access to the three E 12 bolts - ebay is a decent source / I have a new pump here if you need one quick not a hard job to do torque is 30NM

[albitz]

And if it isn't the water pump,remove the plenum inlet manifold and sandwich plate (basically just a load of torx bolts to remove) and see if theres traces of coolant from the stat,oil cooler plate,coolant bridge or heater bypass valve.

[Webby the Bear]

The big leak started straight after you di some work. Go back over your work before you start condemning water pumps.

if you followed the guide I presume it says to undo the red drain plug on the rad. is this leaking? did you do any other work that opened up the coolant system?

then i'd be looking at other things.

just my opinion 

[Sir Tigger KC]

The big leak started straight after you di some work. Go back over your work before you start condemning water pumps.

if you followed the guide I presume it says to undo the red drain plug on the rad. is this leaking? did you do any other work that opened up the coolant system?

then i'd be looking at other things.

just my opinion 

Yes I'm with Webby here!! Strange that it's started leaking after flushing and refilling! 

Unless you've flushed out some crud that was plugging a leak!!   

PS: It's none of my business really but if you have your email address as your username, you might find yourself getting spammed out of existence!!!   

Just a thought and welcome to the forum!!   

[Paulus62]

Thank you all for your replies,

Webby, the first thing I checked was the red tap on the radiator, that was fine. When I flushed out what was in there (water according to hygrometer) quite a bit of rust was evident on the first 5 flushes (4½ litres per flush) so I suspect that something has unblocked somewhere

Ex-Sir Tigger, thanks for the bit about username, I noticed that but couldn't find how to change it 

Generally; the only other thing I did prior to the coolant change was a plug change both sides, No. 3 plug well was full of oil which I think is due to the cam cover gasket leaking, plug was firing okay! the passenger side cam cover is also leaking so that is something else to do

As I cannot be sure of the last time the timing belt was done, as there is no official service record for the past 5 years I was going to do it prior to the MOT @ the end of July. Now as I need to find the leak I might as well do the lot, if the cam covers are not too different to the 2.5 engine?

Thanks again for you collective input it is very much appreciated.

Paul 

[Webby the Bear]

yeah if its just been water for ages I assume theres rust in there and as tigger says you've prob unblocked what was covering a hole!

pressure test mate 

and welcome to the forum 

[Paulus62]

Ex-Sir Tigger, thanks for the bit about username, I noticed that but couldn't find how to change it   

Found it and changed 

[albitz]

Doing camcover gaskets on 2.6 is basically the same as 2.5 except its easier as theres less things in your way thanks to the tidier setup of the 2.6.