Coolant Water pump and knocking diagnosis
Jul 13, 2021 | 10:34 AM
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Coolant Water pump and knocking diagnosis
Hello folks. After searching for some time, it seems I have a new and unique to me problem.
The symptoms:
Initially I felt a sort of knocking or tapping in the steering wheel, along with a faint audible note.
I thought maybe my timing is off, or a plug is bad or something related to the combustion cycle.
Starting from cold, few minutes idle and I noticed coolant spilling. I checked to see from where, didn't see source but saw it was somewhere from lower front side of engine.
5 minutes later I stopped at my destination, it leaked for a minute more and stopped. No more leaks after another hour or so of driving. Included this morning cold start cycle. Is this even possible? Makes no sense.
At this point I think, can the two issues be connected? What are the odds I have two issues almost at the same time (the tapping and coolant leak)? Additionally, I just got done doing major front suspension work. Did I affect something?
I started this morning to drive to work, keeping and an eye on the temp gauge. Temp gauge NEVER moves, it warms up and sits at the same spot for entire duration of any drive. This morning, I saw it move past that and back SLIGHTLY as I went from accelerating, decelerating to idling. I stopped and checked, no leaks. But slight tapping feel still there, almost not audible. I touched the coolant return hose and I felt the tapping very distinctly through the hose. I touched other parts of the engine, didn't feel anything. I touched other coolant hoses and I feel the tapping there to.
Diagnosis???? I am thinking the water pump is bad in a way that internally it has a mechanical failure that is creating the tapping/knocking. But the fact that I can feel it through the hoses ONLY and not on the engine or the radiator, tells me some sort of water hammer action is going on. Is air in the system causing this? Is it a bad water pump? This pump has 45k miles on it, about 6 years old. I took the car back home and rode to work on my bike. Now I have to suffer 95 degree heat in leather on my way home.. not nice.
OK wise folks. let's see what your collective experience and knowledge can do with this problem
The symptoms:
Initially I felt a sort of knocking or tapping in the steering wheel, along with a faint audible note.
I thought maybe my timing is off, or a plug is bad or something related to the combustion cycle.
Starting from cold, few minutes idle and I noticed coolant spilling. I checked to see from where, didn't see source but saw it was somewhere from lower front side of engine.
5 minutes later I stopped at my destination, it leaked for a minute more and stopped. No more leaks after another hour or so of driving. Included this morning cold start cycle. Is this even possible? Makes no sense.
At this point I think, can the two issues be connected? What are the odds I have two issues almost at the same time (the tapping and coolant leak)? Additionally, I just got done doing major front suspension work. Did I affect something?
I started this morning to drive to work, keeping and an eye on the temp gauge. Temp gauge NEVER moves, it warms up and sits at the same spot for entire duration of any drive. This morning, I saw it move past that and back SLIGHTLY as I went from accelerating, decelerating to idling. I stopped and checked, no leaks. But slight tapping feel still there, almost not audible. I touched the coolant return hose and I felt the tapping very distinctly through the hose. I touched other parts of the engine, didn't feel anything. I touched other coolant hoses and I feel the tapping there to.
Diagnosis???? I am thinking the water pump is bad in a way that internally it has a mechanical failure that is creating the tapping/knocking. But the fact that I can feel it through the hoses ONLY and not on the engine or the radiator, tells me some sort of water hammer action is going on. Is air in the system causing this? Is it a bad water pump? This pump has 45k miles on it, about 6 years old. I took the car back home and rode to work on my bike. Now I have to suffer 95 degree heat in leather on my way home.. not nice.
OK wise folks. let's see what your collective experience and knowledge can do with this problem
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