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[minifreek]

Hey folks,

My '99 Elite V6 has a water leak which appears to be coming from the rear of the engine...

Yesterday I stripped the top off the engine (plenums and injection manifold) to get access to the rear of the block...
Only thing I found that was slightly wet was around the coolant bridge, I tightened it slightly but thought it was tight enough, Iv ordered new dowty washers for the coolant bridge so I can eliminate them... Iv also changed the heater bypass valve for a new GM item I bought for my old Vectra 2 weeks before it got stripped/scrapped.... What else is there at the rear of the engine that could leak a good amount of fluid... Does the steel pipe that runs from the rear of the engine to the N/S and towards the front to join a rubber pipe for the radiator, do these have a tendency to leak at all...? I have another of these pipes with a new O'ring on it, is it worth replaceing if it turns out to be neither of the above that have already been/being changed...?

Any help appreciated


BTW it only ever leaks badly if under pressure but never overheats....

[Temetsy]

I'd say it's that pipe that goes to the back of the block, if you have acces under the car reach to the top on the GB where clutch pipe comes out of the bell housing. That's were mine was wet when I had that pipe leaking. No idea though how does coolant end up on the coolant bridge.. Pretty easy job to change (looks like a bitch when starting but once you find way to fit tool there it's a walk in the park). Just remove plenum, inlet's top part  and coolant bridge and you have pretty good acces to bolts.

[minifreek]

Cheers for the answer, I hope it isn't that pipe :lol:

If it is I'll swap it for the good spare I have with a new O'ring....

I await the dowty washers and I'll go from there... Might make a simple pressure tester and pressurise the system before putting everything back together....

[Temetsy]

you don't have to change the whole pipe, though ain't too bad job either, takes a minute to think and four minutes to get old pipe out and new one in. My car has the additional air pump and it's piping removed as well as aircon so that adds some extra space to the bay..

[minifreek]

I was thinking of removing the AC as I dont use it anyway... always thought I would though...?

Mine also has the secondary airpump installed too, god knows why they saw fit to add it as it donesn't really help with emmisions :lol: I removed it from my Vectra and it always passed the emmisions at MoT time....

[Temetsy]

the sec airpump is just to warm up cats quicker so no effect on emissions when the system is hot

[minifreek]

Yeah I know what the secondary pump is for, thanks

TBH removing that pump won't really effect much underbonnet, just better access underneath I guess...

[Temetsy]

Yeah I know what the secondary pump is for, thanks

TBH removing that pump won't really effect much underbonnet, just better access underneath I guess...

I'd say it affects a lot to underbonnet working since much easier to stand on the anti-roll bar and acces the back of engine room easily

[minifreek]

Well got back in from installing the dowty washers once they turned up, installed water into system and ran to temp, alls fine

Happy days

Now replaced the water with antifreeze/coolant and ran back up to temp again and still no leaks, so seem sits sorted. It was either the dowty washers on the coolant bridge or the heater bypass valve that needed changing but Iv got piece of mind now for a while I guess

[Temetsy]

Nice to hear that it's not leaking anymore