Re: drip drip drip

["Dean W. Cains" <dwc@domain.elided>]

Hi Taylor:

It sounds like the shaft seal on the water pump is leaking.  Be careful not 
to drive the car AT ALL with the coolant low.  If the pump leaks, it's time 
for a new one.  After that, fill the system, bleed the air from the 
manifold bleed screw, and then fill the expansion tank about half full with 
coolant, too.  Be warned that when the coolant level drops just a little in 
the engine, the temp sensor will not read properly, and serious engine 
damage is not far behind.

Regards,

Dean

At 11:33 PM 7/16/2002, you wrote:

> Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 15:14:27 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Taylor Clark <taylor@domain.elided>
> Subject: drip drip drip
>
> My 1974 Spider is exhibiting an interesting symptom in the cooling system.
>  When it gets hot, water seems to drip out from somewhere under the front
> center of the engine.  When it cools down it stops dripping.  It does not
> take long for the dripping to stop, maybe an hour or two.
>
> But even if I fill the radiator to the top, nothing much ever seems to flow
> to the expansion tank.  The inlet hole is exposed at the bottom.
>
> If I drive for a couple of days, I end up a quart or more down on
> antifreeze, and the car starts to run way to hot.  It usually runs under
> 180F, with low water, it runs to almost 212F.
>
> My theory is that some seal is letting water out at a lower preasure than
> the preasure cap opens at and lets things into the expansion tank.  The cap
> mechanism seems to move ok, but my queston is - do I simply have a cap
> problem, or a water pump seal problem or what?
>
> - -Taylor Clark
>  74 Spider Iniezione (can't be a Veloce, no carbs)
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