Coolant leak around engine studs?

[speedjunkie]

I had that issue about a year ago. Apparently you're supposed to put sealant around the studs, either before or after the nut, I can't remember which. I put gobs of sealant before and after the nut on each one, so far I haven't had any further issues.

[infernosg]

Originally Posted by speedjunkie

I had that issue about a year ago. Apparently you're supposed to put sealant around the studs, either before or after the nut, I can't remember which. I put gobs of sealant before and after the nut on each one, so far I haven't had any further issues.

I was freaking out when I first saw the leak. After calming down and thinking about it I realized the lack of sealant made sense. I used a toothpick to smear about a pea-sized amount of black Permatex around the threads near the sealing washers. I'm going to flip the block and fill it with coolant tonight and check for leaks again in the morning. I don't want to go through the hassle of reinstalling the flywheel, clutch, and engine only fit it to leak again.

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by infernosg

I was freaking out when I first saw the leak. After calming down and thinking about it I realized the lack of sealant made sense. I used a toothpick to smear about a pea-sized amount of black Permatex around the threads near the sealing washers. I'm going to flip the block and fill it with coolant tonight and check for leaks again in the morning. I don't want to go through the hassle of reinstalling the flywheel, clutch, and engine only fit it to leak again.

If you can jury rig a way to pressurize the coolant in the block to about 14~15psi before putting it all back together, I think it would be worth the extra effort. It might not leak much/at all unless it's pressurized as it would in operation.

Now that I think of it, easy way to do this would be to temporarily plumb the radiator to the WP housing, then cap or loop the remaining openings (heater ports, rear housing/TB lines, etc.), then rent/borrow a coolant system pressure tester from the local auto parts shop. Fill with water, pump it up & see if the pressure holds; if it doesn't hold you'll find out quickly where it's leaking from.

[infernosg]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

If you can jury rig a way to pressurize the coolant in the block to about 14~15psi before putting it all back together, I think it would be worth the extra effort. It might not leak much/at all unless it's pressurized as it would in operation.

Now that I think of it, easy way to do this would be to temporarily plumb the radiator to the WP housing, then cap or loop the remaining openings (heater ports, rear housing/TB lines, etc.), then rent/borrow a coolant system pressure tester from the local auto parts shop. Fill with water, pump it up & see if the pressure holds; if it doesn't hold you'll find out quickly where it's leaking from.

This makes sense. I'll look into it. Right now I just have about a gallon of coolant in the block itself. Previously this was enough to leak around the engine studs but no leaks after about 15 hours so far.

EDIT: Actually, I just went out and checked again and it looks like there's a small leak in one of the plugs in the water pump housing. Fortunately, that's an easy fix.