Page 1 of 1

ENgine coolant leak

Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 11:44 am
by Sean
G'day,

I have a coolant leak in a lwb Vitara G16B, it uses a large amount of coolant in a single day, i have to add a fair amount of coolant each morning. I have pulled the cap off and cant see any bubbles in the coolant.

When the engine is running and lying under the vehicle you can see engine coolant dripping off the front diff. When looking from above you can see it dripping onto the alternator, then the water pump then onto the diff.

Can anyone direct my search as to where the leak may be?

Are the heads and blocks prone to cracking?

Cheers,
Sean

Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 12:58 pm
by zookimal
Hopefully more simple and cheaper to fix than head or block. Unsure if that's common but have found G13 blocks handle plenty of abuse.

Check rad/heater hoses for pinhole sized leaks first. They will spray from the split hose and onto something else in the bay. I thought I'd split a head gasket a few years back as coolant appeared to be leaking from the block, but like you, no bubbles or oil in the coolant etc, but then realised a heater hose was split and spraying onto it.

Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 2:00 pm
by Sean
thanks i will check that, i forgot to mention that all the hoses looked OK, completely missed the heater core hoses though.

Cheers,
Sean

Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 5:21 pm
by chris.e
Pull the front cover off the motor and check the waterpump, it has a coolant escape hole on the lower side of the shaft casting.

Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 5:21 pm
by short stuff
my gti motor was leaking at the front of the motor between the head and block but it had no bubbles or compresion loss we source the problem to be one of the head bolts was loose

Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:28 pm
by Phantomzook
Had the same problem with mine 2 weeks ago. Replaced the two heater hoses then found the culprit was a small hose from the throttle body to the block above the alternator. It was at the throttle end but was running down on to the bottom heater hose. Access was tight I’d recommend taking off the black plastic cover near the efi print 3 bolts. From the side/under take off the triangular black mount 2 high bolts and loosen the bottom and swing out. The hose had a few bends in it but after a small search at repco they found something close off a landcrusier $10 :)