QuestionQUESTION: ok heres my story i have a 01 dodge intrepid with the 2.7 and i just changed the water pump and thermostat and got it all back together and before i cranked it i was filling it with antifreeze and it started pouring out of the weep hole again without the car running...... so i decided to keep filling it and crank it and see if it stops..... so it stopped for a short bit then once i cut the car off and checked the water level it was empty again so i filled it back up and it started leaking again and when i open the bleeder valve all i get is steam coming out no fluid and it is also bubbling back into the resevoir and there is no heat..... what is going on????? any help would be greatly appreciated
ANSWER: Hi Patrick,
There is an issue with the 2.7L engine that you may already be aware of that resulted in early failure related to the oil passageways, so I hope that is not involved. Probably that is not the issue in this case.
A little over a month ago I had a similar question from Nelleah on 10/24 so I looked into the manual then to see what I could find. Here is that exchange:
"This vehicle has 113,000 miles approx and we have owned in it for the last 8 years. It overheated on my 7 mile commute from work. Coolant was streaming out the weep hole on the side of the engin block. My husband owns/operates his own auto service, so he is fairly knowlegdeable and resourceful and despite the daunting task, he removed the water pump. The impeller was completely broken loose from the shaft. There were no apparent cracks in the block and as I wrote earlier coolant appeared to only be leaking from the weep hole. After reassembly, the engine runs fine, sounds great; no knocks, no miss. But coolant is still leaking steadily from the weep hole. Is there any way that there could be crack in the engine water jacket (water journals) that may be leaking out this weep hole? Or it is merely a bad part. We used a remanufactured water pump. (after all, it is just the "wife's car", not a paying customer, ha ha.
Answer
Hi Nelleah,
I have no knowledge of the possibility of another source of weepage than the waterpump, but that seems unlikely. There are two weep holes associated with the pump body proper, and two different locations for weepage to be spotted. At about 6 o'clock of the pump proper is the primary passage and its leakage is fed through an internal passageway to an external hole located just below the thermostat housing on the front. It may well be that passageway is blocked, which then leaves only to the secondary passageway to release the leak at the rear of the block (see below). So I would try to clear out the primary passageway with a flexible but stiff wire to be sure that one is open.
It is a matter of 'degree' according to the manual ("It is normal for the water pump to weep a small amount of coolant from the weep hole {black stain at weep passageway}. Do not replace the water pump if this condition exists. Replace the water pump if a heavy deposit or a steady flow of engine coolant is evident from the primary weep passage. This indicates a shaft failure and pump must be replaced...Be sure to perform a thorough analysis before replacing water pump." Ref:'03 manual for JR (Sebring) with 2.7L, page 7-43.
So it is your judgement as to what is normal and what indicates a pump seal failure. I guess it depends upon how much coolant you are loosing per 100 miles of driving which you might want to assess.
The secondary weep passageway is at about 11 o'clock on the pump and it discharges into a external hole on the backside of the 'front' of the valley between the two cylinder banks (where it can't be seen), and then flows along the valley and out a hole at the rear of the engine at the valley (where it can be seen).
So the designers at Mitsubishi thought they needed to have two weep passages to clear out weepage so that it wouldn't pressuize the area and result in coolant being forced into the oil system. That intrusion led to early engine failures due to foaming of the oil. So you would want to watch for whether you find foam on the dipstick or the oil filler cap. Absent that, and with a tolerable coolant loss rate, my inclination would be to leave it alone.
Roland
PS I will be interested to learn what your husband concludes about the situation. My opinions are based only upon what I have read, while he has been "there" and "done that". "
I did not get any further feedback from her. But based on what you said in your question
I wonder, Patrick, in light of the unexplained coolant loss, the steaming, bubbling back into the reservoir, no heat, if rather you might have a head gasket leak going on. Do you see any foaminess in the engine oil via the dipstick check? Does the system make bubbling sounds when you are running the engine, soon after starting it? It could be that you first had an overheat situation due to a head gasket leak, and that the cooling system is being over-pressurized by that leak, which forces coolant out the thermostat weep hole. That is my thinking at the moment.
Let me know what you think about that idea.
Roland
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: it kinda makes sense but why would the coolant be pouring out of the weep hole and the car isnt even running
ANSWER: I am not familiar with the detailed design of the water pump/engine interface, but I wonder if there is some failure between the impeller housing proper and the cavity in front of the impeller/bearing/seal into which coolant leaks when the seal fails. Is it possible that you got a defective pump? Was it aftermarket or Chrysler part? I agree that if it started leaking immediately without having starter the engine that it couldn't be a pressurized coolant system that is causing the leak.
Roland
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: it was a chrysler pump..... when it was leaking before it would only leak when the car was running..... also this isnt my car i am working on it for someone and they just informed me too that they did run it hot to the point it was sputtering and cutting out so i am really starting to lean towards thwe head gasket its just funny thats its not running hot either and once i crank it and it warms up the leak out of the weep hole stops but then thats when i gett the bubbling in the resevoir
AnswerBubbling in the reservoir is a sign of a head gasket leak alright, so that would be worth checking out. You can have an exhaust shop check for exhaust gas in the bottle with a special leak detector which would corroborate it.
Roland
PS Please 'rate' my answer.
PPS It could even be a crack in the block or the head is another possibility given that history.
