Leaky 190

[Dansrockin]

Hi all, I had the engine replaced on my celestial 190 a few weeks back, as the water pump failed on the old engine. The engine I bought was a known engine with 95k on it, belts, pump, tensioners, stat all done on it in the last 18 months.
The engine itself seems ok, plenty of power where it should be, and no untoward noises, however I have noticed I'm losing coolant, and there is also a little bit of lumpiness at idle. There's nothing around the stat, and the lower coolant pipes under the rad have been replaced so they're good.
The only place I can seem to find anything wet is at the back of the engine on the drivers side, it seems to be damp on top of the drive shaft, and there's a few drips on the oil filter. There is also a bit of condensation from the exhaust, and a tiny amount of mayo under the oil filler cap. No sign of oil in the coolant though, and the oil level hasn't risen at all.
I took the plastic inlet manifold off, and there was a few drips of water come out when it was tipped up, and also some came out of the breather pipes. There seems to be a slightly darker pink stain from the drivers side corner of the rear metal inlet manifold.
Am I right in thinking this is more than likely to be the inlet manifold gasket, or do you think the symptoms could be anything more serious?
Thanks
Dan

[Dansrockin]

Anyone got an opinion on my leak? 😊

[jn12]

Hi Dan,

After I had a V6 engine swop I had a leak on the rear hose that goes into the block this is near and above the drive shaft, back of the engine. The hose is covered in a silver foil like wrapper.

Worth still looking in the V incase an o ring on the new stat is leaking and by the sounds of it an inlet gasket is leaking if you have pink staining around there. So probably worth getting the two replaced incase they were reused on the first stat change. Could explain rough running if water is getting into a intake port.

Was the new coolant rail the stainless steel version? If so check here as they can be hard to get a good seal, some double up on hose clips.

The slight mayo and rough running as well as the drops of water from the black intake manifold could be blocked breathers and cam cover breather holes/gauzes. Always worth doing on the V6. As for the exhaust they all do that at this of year, mine was terrible this morning!

Let us know what you find! Who did the engine swap? they might offer to help.

John

[Dansrockin]

Thanks for the reply John, I'll have a check on the coolant pipe, I didn't even realise there was one there! 😁
There's nothing coming from the stat or the pipes to it, I had a good look around there when I had the manifold off.
I'll have a look at the breathers and try to do the gauzes too. I guess if I'm going to change the gaskets, I might as well take the cam covers off while there's no manifold and clean the filters.
The lower coolant pipes have been replaced with copper pipes, but I'll be trying to get some proper stainless ones at some point.
I'll let you know what I find!
Thanks again
Dan

[Ched]

Drips of water on the oil filter possibly from the water pump, the heater pipe at the top rear of engine could well be the clip holding the pipe on, ideally they both should have been new replacements.
Replace the inlet gaskets for peace of mind and make sure they are torqued up correctly, this gasket leaking could be the reason for a lumpy tickover.

[SD1too]

... belts, pump, tensioners, stat all done on it in the last 18 months. ... I'm losing coolant ...
I suggest that you drain the cooling system and refill it following the official MGR procedure. Then drive your car for several weeks. You might find that little niggles settle down. :}

Simon

[Dansrockin]

Thanks guys, I'll be changing the gaskets anyway for peace of mind, and I'll have a good look at the coolant pipe tomorrow and see if there's anything coming from there.
Simon, just out of interest, how will draining the coolant and refilling, and driving for a few weeks stop my leak? 😉

[SD1too]

Simon, just out of interest, how will draining the coolant and refilling, and driving for a few weeks stop my leak?
I forgot to ask, who installed the replacement engine?

Simon

[Dansrockin]

I forgot to ask, who installed the replacement engine?

Simon

It was fitted by Tom force in Hereford. He got the engine from a car with a lot of history with it, all the previous work had been done by Kayleigh allkins team at mg mobile mechanics.

[Dansrockin]

Well I've spent most of today in and under the engine bay! I worked out that most of the mess around the back of the engine appears to be grease from inside the driveshaft gaiter! The cable tie that had been used to secure the wider end of the gaiter had come off, causing some of the grease to squirt out and cover things in that area. All that's cleaned up now and I've re-secured the gaiter. There's no sign of a leak from the pipe at the back of the engine, or anywhere in the v of the engine. I did however spot a couple of drips from the lower coolant pipe. Im guessing when I checked it before, it must've evaporated away so it looked as though there was nothing there. I've tightened the clamp up and it appears to be holding now, so hopefully that's dealt with for now.
I left the engine running for a while until the fan had kicked in a couple of times, and the coolant system had pressurised, and so far there seems to be no external leaks that I can see.
I still believe the IMG is leaking internally though, as there is a significant amount of steam coming from the breather that goes into the throttle body, to the point that when the airbox is off, water is collecting in the TB and dripping out. I left the oil filler cap off while the engine was running and it started wishing out of there, so hopefully that will have helped to clear a bit of moisture from inside.
Is there anywhere else apart from the IMG that I can check that would produce that amount of moisture in the engine? I know the breather pipes are not blocked as I blew through them and there was no obstruction. I know the cam breather filters could be blocked, but I'm guessing if that was the case, the moisture wouldn't be coming out of the breather pipes?