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Found coolant leak

2K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  insightbrewery 
#1 ·
2000 Camry 4 banger. Finally found my coolant leak. Had a front main seal go bad last year. Had a mechanic replace water pump, timing belt, and front main seal. Not sure what else was done. It’s the orange spot in the circle. What is this and how hard is it to fix? Thanks for any help.
 

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#2 ·
Isn't that the water pump weep hole? If it's leaking from there, the water pump shaft seal has died. What brand of water pump did you have them put in, and what type of coolant?
 
#5 ·
^+1, Gates pumps are still junk, long after Honda abandoned them due to excessive failure rate.

I would seriously caution against using parts store green...it's usually an old-school silicate coolant that doesn't play nice with aluminum engines. I do a helluva lot of timing belt jobs on Toyotas (each job includes water pump), and cars running green always have sediment coming out of the block drain, which is what you get when silicate coolants attack aluminum engine components. In fact, I'm in the middle of an '03 Sequoia today, and guess what I find in the thermostat housing, and guess what color the coolant was. Also, the OEM Aisin water pump I took off is 100K old and the shaft seal went, causing dripping out the weep hole like you have - non-spec coolants will accelerate this.

Suitable, spec coolant isn't expensive. Zerex Asian Vehicle Red is a great substitute for OE, and is cheap as hell at Walmart.
 
#8 ·
Are you still under warranty with the shop?

A new water pump and coolant, if the timing belt didn’t get wet. Looks like rust in the system killed the seal. Of course Gates pumps have a bad rap (I’m a big fan of their belts and hoses and newer OE timing kits with genuine bearings, but I don’t use their pumps which they decided to get into).

Ask the shop to put in an Aisin pump and Zerex Asian or Pentofrost A1 (Toyota Red) coolant. Zerex coolant is premixed, so any water flushed into the system will dilute the ratio, if you flush you have to use a concentrate.

Makes me wonder if the shop got the ratio right last time. It’s too soon to have corrosion with new coolant last year.

In your case get full concentrate and distilled water (Rockauto has Pentofrost A1 concentrate $20/gallon) . I think the cooling system could use a flush with Prestone radiator cleaner (find at Walmart). Make sure to flush the chemical all out or you’ll have faster corrosion.

I don’t use the red Asian Prestone coolant - it’s just a Dexcool clone (sebacic acid and 2EHA last checked) with red dye, unlike the good Zerex Asian or Pentofrost.

Imo Prestone coolant is a real joke. Besides their radiator flush (only brand around it seems) I wouldn’t use any of their stuff.
 
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