Strange coolant leak
 

I have what you would call a minor coolant leak.. it makes a small puddle overnight and I have to top off the resivior every 7-10 days. This seems to have started after I straddled (ran over) a street lamp fixture that fell off a utility pole at about 50mph. I heard a lot of crunching as it scraped my undercarriage. My tires did not run over it.. it was really dark, didn't have time to swerve, but managed to straddle it. I watched all my guages immeidately after, and turned off the radio and heard/saw nothing unusual in the next 5 miles home.. this was two weeks ago.

I have looked at my lower radiator hose and it's dry. The leak seems to be coming from the front center of the engine, near the vacinity of the water pump. My oil pan is damp with coolant. My water pump is only 5,000 miles old and appears dry top and bottom. Any ideas?

I assume that the coolant's not coming from the radiator itself?

Could the water pump gasket be bad?

Just a thought...good luck!

Check the waterpump weep hole

Turbodiesel,
The next time you are in the neighborhood, stop by, we can hook up the pressure tester for the cooling system.
Tom

Tom

I will order the idler arm tommorow.. maybe I can stop by Thursday or Friday evening if that's ok with you.

Turbodiesel,
Thursday night I am replacing the a/c condenser for a friend in Ford Bronco, Friday I have to go to a meeting. Give me a call, Saturday afternoon will probably be better.
Tom

I called today and they said they have an idler arm repair kit, is that what we need? They don't sell a new idler arm.