Found a coolant leak tonight, think an unscheduled timing belt job may be in order.

[aging fleet]

I dropped the skid plate tonight for a leisurely oil change with some music and a beer when a dried pool of coolant derailed my plans.

Leak is towards the drivers side and appears to be coming primarily from behind the a/c compressor, but there is a bit of dried coolant at the weep hole behind the crank pulley too. No visible leaks at the top or back of the motor, I suspect the water pump, but it would be awesome if the was another potential culprit in the area that I’m forgetting. What do you guys think?

For context, I replaced the timing belt, water pump, and all associated parts 6 years and 50k miles ago with Toyota parts.

View up to weep hole behind crank.

 

[aging fleet]

While topping up the oil and listening to a solid Terrapin Station, I had an epiphany. A few weeks ago I pulled my accessory belt while chasing a cold start squeak. While taking the belt off I noticed the bolt circled in red below had almost completely backed itself off it’s stud. I considered myself lucky to find it before I lost the nut, torqued it to spec, and moved on with the morning.

Hoping that loose nut was enough to cause the leak and torquing it down was enough to stop it.

 

[flintknapper]

^^^^^

Either that or one of the hoses going to/from the oil cooler would be my guess.

 

[ramangain]

Only in this forum would we jump from "unknown dried bit of coolant" to "potential unscheduled timing belt job"

Everyone who thinks this way better pass the White Glove test where they live, or may need to reevaluate their life balance.

 

[aging fleet]

^^^^^

Either that or one of the hoses going to/from the oil cooler would be my guess.

Yea, I'm just going to keep an eye on it for the next few weeks, hopefully I won't have to dig any further.

Only in this forum would we jump from "unknown dried bit of coolant" to "potential unscheduled timing belt job"

Everyone who thinks this way better pass the White Glove test where they live, or may need to reevaluate their life balance.

C'mon man, it's a slippery slope when you have to dig deep enough to get a good view of that water pump. Seriously though, if it continues to leak and I need to tear it down, I probably would just go ahead and do the timing belt job. I pray it doesn't come to that.

 

[WeCruise]

Did the leak ever come back? I'm seeing some coolant around the same area and I'm pretty sure my water pump is going bad...

 

[aging fleet]

Did the leak ever come back? I'm seeing some coolant around the same area and I'm pretty sure my water pump is going bad...

@WeCruise, thankfully it hasn't come back after re-torqueing the water pump nuts/bolts I had access to. I'm pretty sure the one loose nut I circled above was the primary driver of the issue. If you're seeing coolant around the front of the motor, it could be water pump, a leak at the inlet housing, coolant hoses at the oil cooler, etc.

Do you know if the water pump has been changed?

 

[WeCruise]

@WeCruise, thankfully it hasn't come back after re-torqueing the water pump nuts/bolts I had access to. I'm pretty sure the one loose nut I circled above was the primary driver of the issue. If you're seeing coolant around the front of the motor, it could be water pump, a leak at the inlet housing, coolant hoses at the oil cooler, etc.

Do you know if the water pump has been changed?

That's good to hear! Just bought it, previous owner said he did the timing belt twice and it's at 220k now. But he wasn't sure about the water pump. So, I'm going to check as many areas as I can before I do it. I'll take a look at some of the areas you pointed out. Thanks!