Leaking coolant from where exactly?

E

Estlander

Member
:
1995 Mazda Protege 1,5L
Hy guys. I have a problem with my 1995 Z5 Protege with 103400 miles.
I smelled coolant today when i got out of my car. I looked under it and saw it dripping from the passenger side. I then started looking where it was coming from and after finding out that it wasn't coming from any of the coolant hoses and the radiator i then removed that plastic cover underneath the car and got under it.
I started the car and waited to see where it was coming from. It is not coming from the water pump, but a bit further towards the firewall about 4 inches. It seems to be coming from the oil dipstick area and from behind that pulley.
Please check out the picture on the link i have provided and give me your ideas. It seems to be coming down from the places shown with red arrows. Could it be that i have a blown head gasket? If you have a blown head gasket then is it normal for the car to leak coolant as well?
It does not overheat or leak oil at all, just leaks coolant from a lower part of the engine.
Any help is much appreciated.
http://www.zone.ee/pleiadean/coolant leak.JPG?2
 
you're sure its leaking from tehre and not dripping down from somewhere higher and pooling up down there?
 
I'm sorry, sir, but everything you've said and even the picture lead me to believe that it is the water pump. Remember it can come out of the water pump and travel over something and then drip down nearby instead of directly from it. Either the water pump is bad or it wasn't tightened correctly and is leaking between the mating surfaces. Also, you said the leak is closer to the firewal yet your picture shows the leak to the bottom or right of the pump instead of left towards the firewall. Look behind the crankshaft pulley holes and you will notice wetness behind the upper right hole but not the upper left that's closer to the firewall.
 
gimpo2 said:
you're sure its leaking from tehre and not dripping down from somewhere higher and pooling up down there?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure. The engine looks completely dry around the alternator and around other pulleys.
 
mannydingo said:
I'm sorry, sir, but everything you've said and even the picture lead me to believe that it is the water pump. Remember it can come out of the water pump and travel over something and then drip down nearby instead of directly from it. Either the water pump is bad or it wasn't tightened correctly and is leaking between the mating surfaces. Also, you said the leak is closer to the firewal yet your picture shows the leak to the bottom or right of the pump instead of left towards the firewall. Look behind the crankshaft pulley holes and you will notice wetness behind the upper right hole but not the upper left that's closer to the firewall.
Click to expand...

I suspected the water pump myself and that's why i thoroughly checked around it. The water pump is completely dry and so is the area around it.
It seems to be flowing down from behind that pulley, and the beginning of the dipstick tube is also wet. the bolt on the right of it, that is also wet.
I suspect it is the head gasket. And if it is, then to replace that is gonna cost a lot, i know that. Maybe try some radiator stop-leak stuff?
 
gimpo2 said:
if its the head gasket wouldn't there be water by the head?
Click to expand...

I guess, but how high or low is the head gasket on that engine? Does it run around the height of that lower pulley or is it higher somewhere?
But knowing that the leak is coming from the engine somewhere then there is not much else that it could be but the head gasket, me thinks. What do you guys think?
 
WHOA! I just saw your second picture. What in the world are you calling a water pump??? Of all the pulleys, the one you show the least of is the one for the water pump. If you divide your picture into the four pulleys, the upper left(that the picture barely shows) is the water pump. The one below it is the crankshaft. The upper right is the steering pump. The one below that is the A/C compressor.
 
mannydingo said:
WHOA! I just saw your second picture. What in the world are you calling a water pump??? Of all the pulleys, the one you show the least of is the one for the water pump. If you divide your picture into the four pulleys, the upper left(that the picture barely shows) is the water pump. The one below it is the crankshaft. The upper right is the steering pump. The one below that is the A/C compressor.
Click to expand...

Oh, sorry. I don't have a Protege repair manual, hence i didn't know.
But, mannydingo, take a look at this picture and tell me which one is the water pump exactly. Is it #1, #2, #3 or #4?
Are you saying it's #4, the one in the upper left barely showing? And the one below that is the crankshaft?
http://www.zone.ee/pleiadean/water pump1.JPG

But why couldn't it be the head gasket? After all, the head gasket runs through exactly behind the #2 pulley.
But i see what you mean. You think the water pump leaks and the coolant flows down from behing the crankshaft pulley and drips down from the edge of the oil pan. I am gonna check it out. Hopefully it is the water pump gasket, but that pulley seemed to be dry as well.
 
Last edited:
That's correct. Since you numbered the upper left one as #4 then it is the number 4 pulley. I'm not saying it can't be leaking from between the cylinder head and block. However, you would also have to be noticing some kind of driving problems from the loss of compression escaping from where the coolant would be escaping. It can still be a small enough opening so that only coolant comes out but not enough compression coming out to make a difference. However, even though it's a possibility, it's a long shot.
 
mannydingo said:
That's correct. Since you numbered the upper left one as #4 then it is the number 4 pulley. I'm not saying it can't be leaking from between the cylinder head and block. However, you would also have to be noticing some kind of driving problems from the loss of compression escaping from where the coolant would be escaping. It can still be a small enough opening so that only coolant comes out but not enough compression coming out to make a difference. However, even though it's a possibility, it's a long shot.
Click to expand...


Ok, i checked out the area around the water pump pulley. And although you can't really see in the narrow gap between the water pump pulley and the engine, but there was a weird shine there and it threw up drops of coolant. And when i stopped the engine the inner side/edge of the pulley was slightly wet. So i am now pretty sure it is coming from the water pump area. But whether it is the water pump or the engine block remains to be seen. I am gonna take it to some repair shop next week. And if it is the water pump, then that looks like a nightmare to replace. I, however, am not noticing any driving or compression issues with it. The engine works fine like it always has.
The reason i have dismissed the head gasket is because it would be one hell of a coincidence for the head gasket to be leaking EXACTLY underneath the water pump pulley, wouldn't it be?
I wanna thank everyone for helping me with this, but especially you mannydingo!
 
Last edited:
Estlander said:
I wanna thank everyone for helping me with this, but especially you mannydingo!
Click to expand...

You're making me cry.:'( I've never been thanked so directly on the boards. Anything for a fellow Floridian. Oh, and yes, it's a real pain to replace. I've done it on several cars and, except for rear drive cars, it's been a real pain with all of them. You can save a lot of money doing it yourself but if you're not tight for money, it's not bad to have it done. You didn't put the city on your profile. Where are you?
 
Last edited:
mannydingo said:
You can save a lot of money doing it yourself but if you're not tight for money, it's not bad to have it done. You didn't put the city on your profile. Where are you?
Click to expand...

I am gonna have it done, because i am not even sure how to do it and if i have all the tools necessary to undertake something like this. First, of course, i have to find out whether it really is the water pump. It could very well be, as you said, the engine block, but wouldn't it also be one hell of a coincidence for the engine block to be leaking right by the water pump?

PS: i am from the Florida panhandle. From a city called Fort Walton Beach, to be exact. It's about 11 hour drive from Miami.
 
Last edited:
If you're mechanically inclined, I wouldn't call it an undertaking. I would just call it a major annoyance and expense. When you first said it, I had already thought the same: that it would be a big coincidence to be leaking from the engine right smack where the water pump is. I've been up where you live. I was in a town called Molino. No one from your area ever knows where I'm talking about. If you go north on 29 well north of Pensacola and I-10 you come to an exit to the place. I don't recall if the exit actually says Molino. You can mapquest it if you don't know where I'm talking about and have the curiousity.
 
mannydingo said:
If you're mechanically inclined, I wouldn't call it an undertaking. I would just call it a major annoyance and expense. When you first said it, I had already thought the same: that it would be a big coincidence to be leaking from the engine right smack where the water pump is. I've been up where you live. I was in a town called Molino. No one from your area ever knows where I'm talking about. If you go north on 29 well north of Pensacola and I-10 you come to an exit to the place. I don't recall if the exit actually says Molino. You can mapquest it if you don't know where I'm talking about and have the curiousity.
Click to expand...

If i had the manual i would maybe do it, but there's not much room there.
It seems to me like the whole engine needs to be lifted in order to get to it....lol.
And working in a tight space and spending two hours or something to get just one bolt off is not something i like very much. So, i'm just gonna save me the trouble and take it somewhere. Who knows, maybe after i hearing how much that would cost me is enough to make make me change my mind and do it myself...lol.

Molino, FL.....hmmm, can't say i've heard of the place either. People from Pensacola probably know the place much better than people from FWB or Destin. I checked it out on Google maps, and it seems like an extremely tiny place.
 
I've done that very thing. I've said that's it! I'm going to pay for it this time. I then call around and have to put my tail between my legs, do the job and lick my wounds from the tight space you're talking about. The most difficult part is the hose that goes into the pump from the front of the car into the pump. The part that connects that hose to the pump is held there by two little bolts. They would be a breeze to take off were it not for the freakin' oil dipstick tube that's in the way. Some people outright remove the dipstick tube and then have to buy a new one from destroying it in the process. I did it without removing the tube and it was a nightmare. I repeat, it was a nightmare just because of those two darned bolts. By the way, even people from Pensacola don't seem to know about the place.
 
mannydingo said:
I've done that very thing. I've said that's it! I'm going to pay for it this time. I then call around and have to put my tail between my legs, do the job and lick my wounds from the tight space you're talking about. The most difficult part is the hose that goes into the pump from the front of the car into the pump. The part that connects that hose to the pump is held there by two little bolts. They would be a breeze to take off were it not for the freakin' oil dipstick tube that's in the way. Some people outright remove the dipstick tube and then have to buy a new one from destroying it in the process. I did it without removing the tube and it was a nightmare. I repeat, it was a nightmare just because of those two darned bolts. By the way, even people from Pensacola don't seem to know about the place.
Click to expand...

Do you have an estimate as to how much it would cost to replace the water pump on Mazdas, or any car, for that matter? You said you've called around for quotes. Are we talking about hundreds of dollars here or a thousand even?
 
Estlander said:
Do you have an estimate as to how much it would cost to replace the water pump on Mazdas, or any car, for that matter? You said you've called around for quotes. Are we talking about hundreds of dollars here or a thousand even?
Click to expand...

I don't recall but it's in the hundreds. Not a thousand but not two hundred either. It was like $350 with the price of the part. I think it may be considerably higher in your area because there's a lot less competition. What I would do is open your yellow pages under "Automobile Repairing" or something like that. Call every single place and pick the five cheapest. Drive near each one and see which look reputable. I recall a hidden camera TV special coming to the conclusion that mechanics out of gas stations are some of the best places to go if you don't have any idea of where to go. When you take the car to the shop, let them know about the oil dipstick tube and that you don't want it pulled out because a couple of guys in the forums have done it and it gets mauled taking it out. If he says there's no other way after he gets the job started, be prepared in case you have to be without a car until you get the new dipstick tube. Not the dipstick itself but the tube it goes into which you will have to buy at the Mazda dealership. Call for the price of that too. I doubt he will take that route but it's just in case.
 
Last edited:
mannydingo said:
I don't recall but it's in the hundreds. Not a thousand but not two hundred either. It was like $350 with the price of the part. I think it may be considerably higher in your area because there's a lot less competition. What I would do is open your yellow pages under "Automobile Repairing" or something like that. Call every single place and pick the five cheapest. Drive near each one and see which look reputable. I recall a hidden camera special coming to the conclusion that mechanics out of gas stations are some of the best places to go if you don't have any idea of where to go.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the info. I have a pretty cheap place just across the road from my home. They changed my CV join there recently for 150$(price also includes the part), and the owner seemed like a nice guy.
I'm gonna see if this(changing the water pump) is something he wants to get involved with.
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
2002 Protege Occasional Rough Idle
Replies
7
Views
2K
salguod
S
L
2017~2024 CX-5 2.5T Suspect coolant leaking
Replies
4
Views
2K
ctbale
C
Conrad 16.5
    • Like
Coolant Leak Lawsuit Investigation for the CX-5, CX-9 and Mazda6
2
Replies
34
Views
3K
N7turbo
N7turbo

Latest posts

Back