San Diego road trip woes

[dieselbenz1]

We left Calgary Alberta at the beginning of a cold snap last Wednesday ended up driving through a blizzard for each of the first 2 days then leaving Spokane an ice storm then on the coast at Lincoln City dense fog, rain and flooding. All that and I see the low coolant message. That night and for the next 2 nights each day traveling 400 miles I add 12 ozs. So here we are in San Diego for the next month but I need to find the source of leak. Most driving was hilly but the last relatively flat section and about the same amount od coolant is missing. I'm guessing it likely will be the pump but I need to remove the fans to confirm. I think Rollguy is close I'll see if I can contact him or if someone else has a suggestion I'm all ears.

[dieselbenz1]

That's in my 2005 w211 with 180 k miles on it

[imgolden]

Hi there, I live in San Diego and have some space and a jack if you need to work on your car.
My wagon is currently taking up most of the driveway as I wait for the oil cooler lines to be rebuilt. However, there's a little space behind it and I have a jack and tools. Unfortunatly I don't know anything about your car. Let me know if that's helpful.

[dieselbenz1]

Thank you for you offer I'm still thinking what I need to do to identify the source of the leak. I'm kinda thinking what I all need to do. Drop the front bottom cover, pull the fans or if I'm in that deep just replace the water pump hoses and serpentine belt, tensioner, idler pullies and coolant?? Tomorrow I'll remove the engine covers and likely see nothing.

[dieselbenz1]

The cooling system on these cars is a bit different to the conventional system and do not have a pressure release valve, so I'm still trying to understand it all.

[dieselbenz1]

We as suspected with the engine cover removed I can find no traces of a leak. I'll look into pressure testing the system and borrow a tester from an auto store just not sure if they will have the correct cap for the test?

[dieselbenz1]

Alright I borrowed a coolant pressure tester from auto zone hooked it up with 21 lbs on it no signs of any leaks. Over 15 minutes it lost 2 lbs somewhere. So now what increase pressure the max on this pump is 30 lbs but I'm not into going higher than 21?? Thoughts??

[dieselbenz1]

I have now tested the pump and it's good retested the cooling system ove a 15 minute span it dropped the width of the needle so its at tiny leak. Put my camera where I could no evidence of any leaks so guess I need to wait now till it gets worse. All I know now is under load when pulling hard coolant is leaking from somewhere.

[JHZR2]

Does this car have an oil to water heat exchanger? I’d be concerned with leakage there. May want to do a used oil analysis.

12oz though is really small. A gallon is 128, IIRC.

Do you smell it underhood when the engine is hot? I’ve had cars that didn’t really lose any, but you could smell that antifreeze odor from the miniscule weeping.

[dieselbenz1]

I'll pickup a head gasket test kit later today before doing anything else.

[imgolden]

Sorry I can't help with diagnosing. However, if you need a trusted mechanic, I really like North Park Auto Repair on 30th street. Good honest guys, in case you throw in the towel.

[dieselbenz1]

Not ready to give up just yet I'm here for a month still and thank you for the recommendation. I wouldn't mind seeing your wagon one day though. Well I was at autozone and after quite awhile he located the tester and fluid but it specifically stated not for diesel. I guess I could order something from Amazon and wait longer again. My next step maybe remove the belt and check the pump bearings. It runs and drives great so no real indications of a bad head gasket.

[carock]

My experience has been that pipes/hoses connected to the cooling system with banjo fittings will leak under actual use, but not with a pressure tester. Maybe that is some help, but probably not.

[dieselbenz1]

Haven't seen banjo fittings but lots of push and click fittings with the o ring seal. That's perhaps what you were referring too? No traces of leaks there either as far as I could see anyways.

[dieselbenz1]

I think I captured a video sticking my phone as low as I could get it between the fan and belts. Looks like white caked power not a lot but on top of the water pump. The pump number is 613 201 04 10 but new pumps carry a different number 613 200 09 01. Would someone confirm the first number to be the original part number?