Water leak on M20

[oguz327]

Hi guys wonder if you can help.
Does anyone in the guildford area have access to a water leak compression test kit in the guildford area.
My M20 seem too be losing water, it gone for max to minumum in the last week, done about 300miles.
Engine is all running sweet, no mayonase to seen, fingers crossed its nothing major

[e30-320i]

have you noticed any puddles under the car with my coolant leak i could actually see it running down the block just couldn't see where from.get the engine up to temp and have a good look underneath

[oguz327]

doesnt seem to be any puddles. just checked all the major hoses and they seem fine.
It doesnt seem to be a major leak.
Car is still running sweet.
Just went out and got some stop leak as i need to use the car this weekend.
while there i took the overflow hose out of its normal place and rested it in empty battery tray and went for a drive.
I noticed when i popped the bonnet there was a bit of water in the tray.
ill have to try this again with a bag and cable tiy.
If water is comming out of the overflow pipe what does this mean?

[telski789]

if theres pressure in the system then its probably a head gasket,the water is probably getting into one or two of your cylinders and being chucked out the exhauts,hence not seeing the water come out,run the car and put your hand over the tail pipe to see if any water comes out,also,take each plug out in turn and start the engine with an open cylinder one at a time (it will run ok with one cylinder down),my last head gasket that went i did this and water flew out of the spark plug hole like there was no tomoro!sorry for the bad news! hope you find a better solution!

Tel

[oguz327]

if theres pressure in the system then its probably a head gasket,the water is probably getting into one or two of your cylinders and being chucked out the exhauts,hence not seeing the water come out,run the car and put your hand over the tail pipe to see if any water comes out,also,take each plug out in turn and start the engine with an open cylinder one at a time (it will run ok with one cylinder down),my last head gasket that went i did this and water flew out of the spark plug hole like there was no tomoro!sorry for the bad news! hope you find a better solution!

Tel

in if thats the case wouldnt there be a loss in performance or over heating?

[telski789]

nope,mine was leaking into 2 cylinders and i swore that it was fine! they still fire,just with water,it just seeps in constantly and is fired through the exhaust valves and the temp was ok on mine too!

[oguz327]

damn
i guess i gotta do the copression test and the test you did and take it from there.
anyone else had similar problems?

[oguz327]

worst case senario and it is the head gasket, what sort of monety are we talking to get this sorted these days?

[E30BeemerLad]

Just went out and got some stop leak as i need to use the car this weekend.
while there i took the overflow hose out of its normal place and rested it in empty battery tray and went for a drive.
I noticed when i popped the bonnet there was a bit of water in the tray.
ill have to try this again with a bag and cable tiy.
If water is comming out of the overflow pipe what does this mean?

what stop leak product did you use?

my 325 had the same symptoms, only lost water out of the expansion tank breather pipe after the car had been switched off, probably due to heat soak. It was probably using water whilst running too. System was pressurised.

www.kalimex.co.uk

poured in some stuff called Kseal and it stopped it in about 3 minutes and had a hard life of rev-limiter thrashing since and gave me no more trouble.

If you want to tackle the headgasket in the future then fine, but this stuff will keep the car running until you find a convenient time to do it. It is guaranteed for the life of the engine.

If you have already put some radweld like stuff in and it doesn't cure it then use the K-seal, but prob best to flush system first and put in your antifreeze, then warm up and drop in the k-seal. Job done

[oguz327]

used rad weld, couldnt get any k-seal from halfruads, where did you get yours from dude?
will deffo give it a go.
i am gutted, was gonna take it to castle coombe next week for my first track day

[E30BeemerLad]

you can get it from wilco/motorsave for about £8.99
but you can also order it direct from their website in the link above

If you get that in i reckon you could do the track day no probs, judging by the abuse my car still got afterwards

[oguz327]

will deffo give it a try.
gotta go out now, thanks very much for your advise guys, deffo been a help

[e30-320i]

i can second what e30 beemerlad said used k-seal on mine a few days ago (after he recommended it)and went on a 40 mile backroad run earlier and still no problems and mine was a pretty bad leak you cant go wrong for £9

[Gt6s]

Be carefull !
The head gaskets rot on these engines and when this happens the cylinder head face can also rot. Luckily the heads can be skimmed without stripping the cam and valve gear down. (by uncliping the rockers allowing all valves to close)

With these engines you can not afford an overheat !!

If doing head gasket also budget for cam belt, idler wheel, head bolts, water pump, exhaust manifold gaskets, exhuast studs (THESE BREAK) and nuts. The bulk of this for preventitive reasons.

Not a cheap or easy job.

HAVE FUN

[Brianmoooore]

Hi guys wonder if you can help.
Does anyone in the guildford area have access to a water leak compression test kit in the guildford area.
My M20 seem too be losing water, it gone for max to minumum in the last week, done about 300miles.
Engine is all running sweet, no mayonase to seen, fingers crossed its nothing major

That's water pump leaking kind of speed. Often only leak when the engine's running.

[oguz327]

just left the car over nite, and found a very small puddle underneth the back and center of the engine.
is this where the water pump is on an m20?

[E30BeemerLad]

water pump is front centre of engine, driven by the cambelt mate

[oguz327]

could it be the heater matrix do you think?
i guess i need to do the compression leak test to be sure

[Brianmoooore]

, driven by the cambelt mate

Only on crap like Vau**all. Water pump is driven by fanbelt.
There is an alloy pipe with a small rubber hose bolted onto the back of the head. These are the chief suspects.

[Dan318-is]

, driven by the cambelt mate

Only on crap like Vau**all. Water pump is driven by fanbelt.
There is an alloy pipe with a small rubber hose bolted onto the back of the head. These are the chief suspects.

Why is the water pump being driven by the fanbelt crap?

Oz no water inside would rule out heater matrix i think mate

[Brianmoooore]

Why is the water pump being driven by the fanbelt crap?

Water pump driven by fan belt is fine as BMW does.
Water pump driven by cam belt, as in Vauxhall and others, means that when the water pump seal eventually fails, and the bearing goes, it takes the engine with it.

[Dan318-is]

yeah i meant cambelt ^

so why do the bearings failing mean the engine goes, i take cos it siezes?

Do fords use that set up?

[e30-320i]

just left the car over nite, and found a very small puddle underneth the back and center of the engine.
is this where the water pump is on an m20?

thats the same place mine was leaking i started off changing the water gasket on the back of the head(never again) then found out it was leaking from the headgasket just below the left hand side of the exhaust manifold i was all ready to do the head gasket when e30beemerlad suggested k-seal i couldn't believe it stopped it as you could actually see the water running down the block but it did.
i found the best way to spot the leak was to get the engine hot and have a look with a mirror on a stick(did end up with a black eye for smashing the other halfs makeup box though)
if you only have a small leak i'll be very suprised if k-seal doesn't sort it after seeing it stop mine

[Brianmoooore]

You still need to identify the source of the leak. This stuff won't work on a leaking hose (for long), and if it seals a corroding alloy pipe, the failure will be more catasthtopic when it comes.

[oguz327]

Ok, i think ive sussed this one!
After putting the stop leak in and driving to the west country last week checked every thing again, no pressurised system and no more leaks.
My mechanic friend noticed a stop leak coloured stain all allong the top of the rad and a dribble mark coming from what looks like a hairline fracture in the top of the rad.
Rad is pretty much shot anyway so ill go for a new one i think, car still hasnt over heated or lost any more water and i took it to a garage to have the head gasket test with the dye done to be 100% sure.
So i think thats it, thanks for all your help guys, any one know the best/cheepest place to get a new rad?

[E30BeemerLad]

GSF have rads which vary in price between £95 - £115 for a new one, depending on model of car and if it is auto of manual. don't know if that is exchange or not.

what stop leak product did you use fella?

seems possible the rad has given up possibly as a result of the pressure that was in the system

[oguz327]

cheers dude, i used holts stop leak, not the best i know but its done the trick for now.
Ill check gsf, may have trouble on this on as i have heard tech 1 rads are slightly different to norm.
I dont think the system is presurised, when i open the cap after an hour of driving no water jumpled out and there no water escapining through the overflow as i originaly though.
My rad is prett much shot aswell and has been repaired before.

[Hap]

how would the water pump cause the water to be lost? i have had my pump and tensioner changed and reanitfreezed about 3 months ago, but recently noticed quite a large drop in level, my check control came on.....could it be linked to the fitting of the pump as previous to this, i have never had any problems with the levels, probably topped it up twice in 4 years, it never used to drop below the marks on the expansion tank?

please help im worried!!!

[stonesie]

Rad is pretty much shot anyway so ill go for a new one i think

So i think thats it, thanks for all your help guys, any one know the best/cheepest place to get a new rad?

Try a company called autorads http://www.autorads.co.uk

They were cheapest by far for a rad on a petrol freelander i did at work... suprise suprise a K series with a blown head gasket, cloged the rad with mayo


Sorry just noticed you are nowhere near sheffield.... try ringing round though Euro car parts and GSF are not un-beatable on price

[oguz327]

Rad is pretty much shot anyway so ill go for a new one i think

So i think thats it, thanks for all your help guys, any one know the best/cheepest place to get a new rad?

Try a company called autorads http://www.autorads.co.uk

They were cheapest by far for a rad on a petrol freelander i did at work... suprise suprise a K series with a blown head gasket, cloged the rad with mayo


Sorry just noticed you are nowhere near sheffield.... try ringing round though Euro car parts and GSF are not un-beatable on price

Cheers dude, will have a to shop around a bit i think, if i get a top deal ill post it up

[Brianmoooore]

how would the water pump cause the water to be lost? i have had my pump and tensioner changed and reanitfreezed about 3 months ago, but recently noticed quite a large drop in level, my check control came on.....could it be linked to the fitting of the pump as previous to this, i have never had any problems with the levels, probably topped it up twice in 4 years, it never used to drop below the marks on the expansion tank?

please help im worried!!!

It's quite easy to bu**er up the water pump gasket when fitting it .