Just develped a water leak on my truck. Only when cold. It appears to be coming from somewhere behind the power steering pump. Thinking it may be leaking around the heater pipe at the timing chain cover. Can this pipe be sealed without a major teardown?

 

It can be a pain to get to and the way the gasket is under the timing cover, the correct way would be to remove the timing cover and replace it. First I would try just tightening the bolts. If that did not work, you might try just removing just the gasket to the pipe and using a sealant or making a new gasket. That is how I would go about it if I did not want to remove the timing cover.

 

I hate to suggest this, but check the head gasket. I have seen a few high mileage 2xR engines start to leak coolant from the head gasket behind the power steering pump around the #1 cylinder. See if you can borrow a cooling system pressure tester from a local parts store. You can then pressurize the cooling system while the truck is cold to pinpoint the leak.

If it is just where the heater pipe meets the timing cover, then you could try scraping the gasket off and applying RTV to seal it as suggested above. That should work fine.

 

I have given thought to the potential for a head gasket leak. I hope not. I replaced the head gasket on this thing about 20,000 miles back. Had the head rebuilt and resurfaced at that time. I'll be checking everything thing out tomorrow after all the family leaves out.