Coolant leak CRD 3.0L

Not having a lot of luck with this car lately. One thing after another... And I don't even abuse it!
Coolant leak I noticed yesterday evening, leaking down what looks like the side of the engine between the air-con compressor and accumulating around that circled sump bolt. Wiped it last night, and this morning there was a bit there again and that was without driving the car. Leak is slow, as it's only gathered a few drops around that area and a few drops sitting on some suspension direct beneath it.

I'm not looking forward to seeing how much is leaking after I drive the thing.

Tried to see and peek in exactly where it may be coming from, between pulleys and the airconunit, but so tight there it's very hard to tell unless you rip the whole thing apart.

What sort of damage am I possibly looking at, like is there anything common? Water pump?

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/l...olantLeak5.jpg[/URL]http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/l...olantLeak3.jpg[/URL]

Might want to throw some silver flakes in it,??

Just went for a drive and got he engine to operating temperature. Got back home and not a single drop under there. Waited half a hour and had another look and once again not a single drop... yet.

For what it's worth, I've just noticed white powdery crap (glycol in coolant ) all over the hoses around the overflow bottle, but cannot see any leaks or anything. I'm 90% I havent noticed that before. and doing some quick googling brings up a few threads from the other patrol forum, about the same thing.
If it is somehow leaking from the top, I have no idea how it would have made it's way down to the front front/bottom of the engine as per my original past.
Mind you my car was parked in my driveway which has a bit of an incline.

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/l...c/IMG_2941.jpg

Where does that overflow tube lead to

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Originally Posted by threedogs

Where does that overflow tube lead to

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Straight back into the bottom of the bottle.

Stuffed up that train of thought, lol
are the bottom of any hoses you can get to tight,
might just need to nip them up when the motor is cold

As TD said. Nip up all the clamps for a start. hard to tell from the pics but is there any hoses or engine components that contain coolant directly above the said leaks? Water can only drip down...Also with your hose. Mine does it too. Its not leaking at all. I think its just the cheap rubber used. Being a little porous and the coolant bleeds through the rubber and dries leaving the white residue. Notice header tank is spotless but the hose isn't. If the tank had a split or hole in it you would assume the residue would be all over the tank...

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Originally Posted by Hodge

Just went for a drive and got he engine to operating temperature. Got back home and not a single drop under there. Waited half a hour and had another look and once again not a single drop... yet.

For what it's worth, I've just noticed white powdery crap (glycol in coolant ) all over the hoses around the overflow bottle, but cannot see any leaks or anything. I'm 90% I havent noticed that before. and doing some quick googling brings up a few threads from the other patrol forum, about the same thing.
If it is somehow leaking from the top, I have no idea how it would have made it's way down to the front front/bottom of the engine as per my original past.
Mind you my car was parked in my driveway which has a bit of an incline.

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/l...c/IMG_2941.jpg

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Mine has a little bit of coolant around the overflow bottle cap too, and it has been in for two services since I noticed it, so I think a littlr bit of coolant there is no problem....

Yours is more likely to be from a hose clamp or water pump

Mic

Cheers Mudski and Happy. I've seen the white residue on other cars as well, in fact my wife's Magna has it.
I just find it coincidental that I found a leak at the same time as noticing this white stuff on the hoses. I had the bonnet up not even 4 days prior and that was not there I'm sure of it.
If I wiggle, that hose where it joins close to the cap with the yellow sticker, there is a few drips of coolant coming out. But nowhere near enough to drip downwards, let alone all the way to the front of the engine.
I had a look this morning after the cars been sitting cool/idle for more than 12 hours and there is nothing there no where the existing coolant was that I noticed.
Weird.

Ok this thing is back now, same spot, and I've taken a closer look and seemed to have found roughly where it is leaking but so stupidly tight it's hard to pin point. It's sort of running out of somewhere around the top of the tensioner pulley, but towards the block. Have a photo below, and circled in yellow looking from under the hood downwards you can see a shiny spot where coolant is accumulating and down running down the block and aircon.

And I'm not sure, but seems to me it only happens on warm days and when car is NOT driven. Weird. Today it seemed to be a reasonably larger patch.

Curently going through the Patrol manual to see whats around there other than the thermostat/hoses, but I don't think it's that.


Attachment 50715Attachment 50716

Somewhere in this area... Will have to have another look.


Attachment 50717

must be annoying for you, can you get someone around to figure out where it is actually coming from.
Sometimes two heads work better than one

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Originally Posted by threedogs

must be annoying for you, can you get someone around to figure out where it is actually coming from.
Sometimes two heads work better than one

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A while ago I asked a mechanic and he pointed roughly the same area. But as he put it, it's probably a 50 cent clamp, thats gonna cost half a grand to replace due to everything that needs to be removed to get to it.

could it be a split in the heater pipe, or bolts loose where it bolts to the block.
Do you have a telescopic mirror for a better look'


Edit you wouldn't have water flowing through the heater pipe in the warmer weather
as the heater would be turned off

Quote:

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Originally Posted by threedogs

could it be a split in the heater pipe, or bolts loose where it bolts to the block.
Do you have a telescopic mirror for a better look'


Edit you wouldn't have water flowing through the heater pipe in the warmer weather
as the heater would be turned off

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Good point about the heater. I hope it's something as simple as that or a loose bolt. Just scouring the garage for a mirror on a stick I used to have. Had a small LED light on the end too. KNowing my luck it's in the tip, when I need it.

the good part is things dont flow up so
start at the bottom and retrace it up,
Might have to stand on a milk crate for easier access

I would firstly replace all the spring steel hose clamps with decent stainless worm drive clamps. Those OEM clamps are garbage. It could be just lose enough for the coolant to seep out of where a hose is clamped.... Or bring a stubbie or three over to my place and we'll take a look. :)
Mine uses coolant too. Though I cannot see any leaks, I sometimes smell the coolant but, rarely do.... I need to top the bottle up once every few months.

Just had another look with more lighting and it's hard to take a photo, but looks like it's seeping through between the timing cover and the block.

In this photo I've circled where I "suspect" it to be leaking. See, now it is dry because the car has been driven, it will stay like this until probably tomorrow morning when the coolant will appear.

The black bit of (plastic?) is, what I believe to be a gasket? Sticking out from between the block and timing cover. Just speculations at the moment.

Attachment 50720

And, I am not the first one, if it is the case.

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...e-timing-cover

you can see where its coming up from that hose its all discoloured.
You need to either tighten or replace that clamp,

blow up the pic you'll see what I mean

And this morning, not a single drop has leaking since parking the car, 16 hours ago.

No wonder its doing your head in, very inconsistent

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Originally Posted by threedogs

No wonder its doing your head in, very inconsistent

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Tell me about it. It's annoying. As per one of my earlier posts, it seems like it's leaking overnight, during warmer weather, as it hasn't leaked at all during winter, and its leaking now with the warm weather coming back and the last time i noticed it was last summer.

Just had another quick look and no leaks. But realized something else. I don't know why I thought the water pump fits on top of the timing cover, which is why I thought the coolant is leaking from between the timing cover and block. But they are separate items, as per this pic.
I hope this eliminates the potential to be the timing cover.
Attachment 50773

you will see in the pic that Hodge put up right behind the red line a small 2 bolt flange thats for coolant hoses/heater hoses will be coming from their, will only leak when its cold cause it retracts then swells when its hot, will either be the gasket or one of the hose clamps.

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Originally Posted by batesy

you will see in the pic that Hodge put up right behind the red line a small 2 bolt flange thats for coolant hoses/heater hoses will be coming from their, will only leak when its cold cause it retracts then swells when its hot, will either be the gasket or one of the hose clamps.

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Thanks mate. It hasn't done it for a few days now, so hard to diagnose further. Will be looking into this area.

yeah that two bolt flange looked suss too, will have to wait till it warms up eh

I've got the same issue leaking in the same area. If I top up the coolant bottle it seems to leak until it gets to the low mark then stops and only when it's cold.

Hodge, how did you go with the leak? Mine has got worse in the past month, car sat for 2 weeks and emptied the overflow bottle this time.

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Originally Posted by Badball

Hodge, how did you go with the leak? Mine has got worse in the past month, car sat for 2 weeks and emptied the overflow bottle this time.

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Hi mate. I think mines not any worse than it was before. I haven't noticed any leaking for a few weeks now. Sometimes I can smell the coolant although cannot see anything from that area. I'm still keeping an eye out on it though. Ever since I've noticed this almost a year ago, coolant level hasn't changed at all. So when mine does leak, it is minimal.

My car was at nissan for a service last week, and I asked them just to have a quick look and they couldn't spot anything. But the bloke did tell me it is common for the 3L Di's to leak from there, behind the timing cover. He hasn't seen any CRD's do it yet, but there is always a first. Knowing my luck it will be mine.

Well I bit the bullet, it's in now getting repaired, quoted 8~10hrs plus parts 😳. It was getting worse after every time I drove it.

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Originally Posted by Badball

Well I bit the bullet, it's in now getting repaired, quoted 8~10hrs plus parts . It was getting worse after every time I drove it.

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Let us know what it actually was that was leaking mate.

Sent from my S4 using Forum Runner

I have a leak was behind the plate oil filter. Only noticed when I removed the plate.

Just got home and there is a fark-load of coolant all over the driveway. It wasn't there this morning and the car hasn't been driven. It seems to be coming from the same spot... May indicate that this is getting worse.

Hi Hodge,

The damage was $1800 using genuine parts. The leak was coming from the seal behind the timing gear backing plate that seals against the block I believe. In my case they believe that it was from when the head was replaced it was never sealed correctly or wasn't at all. From what I was told there is 2 ways of doing the head, the cheaper and easy way or the proper way which means removing the timing gear and sandwich plate to ensure that its sealed correctly.

Mine loses about a litre and stays at that level, temps are ok even on hot days.
No way I can afford $1800 for a fix, so it looks like I just top it up before each trip

I can see where mine is coming from. I just cannot distinguish whether it is behind the timing cover or behind the water pump assembly.

You can now add oil to the mix and coolant is now leaking like a siv. Happy times just before xmas. I think oil confirms that it is the timing cover...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hodge

You can now add oil to the mix and coolant is now leaking like a siv. Happy times just before xmas. I think oil confirms that it is the timing cover...

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Shit mate, you're not having a good run hey!!