Coolant Leak

[speed freak]

The same happened to me when I bought my mx5. It had the belt done but nothing else, no water pump, no gaskets or seals etc. I don't get why in any car if your doing the major service why would you not do the water pump at the same time? I mean its an extra $80 or so compared to another $800 (rough estimate) down the track if the pump shits itself. Some may last up to 200k km but if it gets to 150k or 175k km and it lets go or even less well your up for a lot more money again. My seals were that bad a chunk had broken off a cam seal and had a catastrophic oil leak.

[Mr Morlock]

HKS is right about the water pump - it maybe wise but not everyone chooses to spend the extra and plenty of people don't replace belts either. Since its leaking dry it off, clean it with degreaser, and take a look at it again after driving it and try and locate it. It can easily be a leak in a hose clamp. You could also take it to a radiator repair shop and get them to take a look and get a proper diagnosis- also don't rule out a hairline crack somewhere. Incidentally coolant is the same as adding cordial concentrate to water except the former is a very nasty product to be handled and treated with care.

If the pump is found to be leaking my advice is buy a known good quality pump- don't just source the cheapest.

[hks_kansei]

I agree with Mr Morlock.

when everything is wet it's hard to find where it starts. Give it a good clean down and watch for new drips forming.

The $2.50 degreaser in the red aerosol at Masters works very well, just make sure not to get it in your eyes or breathe the fumes.

[dmad_dood]

Some good ideas. Does anyone no where a radiator repair shop is on the north shore of Sydney that will work on a weekend?

If i was going to replace the water pump i would go the whole hog and do everything. I guess that just means im doing my 100,000 a bit early if need be - but i would much rather not.

I will try clean it off properly and run it again. I started it up and watched it for a bit, the coolant drips and then gets flung around everywhere by air and the belts etc..

[Nevyn72]

What models of MX5 suffer from this water pump issue?

I've just bought a 2004 NB SE (picking it up today actually) and the first thing that is going to happen is that it's going in for the 100K service and timing belt.
Just need to know if should get the water pump done at the same time....

[hks_kansei]

I'd do the pump at the same time.

It's not an issue in that they all die, it's more an insurance thing.
To replace the waterpump you need to remove all the stuff to do with the timing belt, so many just do them together to save potentially having to do the timing belt twice.

And pumps are under $100, so not a huge addition to the price.



My pump came out at about 105,000km, mechanically it was still perfectly fine, but it had nearly clogged a few galleries with scale (previous owner must have not used distilled water)

[Nevyn72]

Thanks for that, I'll add it to job list when it goes in.

[dmad_dood]

Ok so a bit of an update, i surrendered my car to the mechanic and turns out that the water pump is indeed buggered. Oh well what can you do...

Thanks for the help everyone, i appreciate it.

Jono.