BX water leak

mthornbury · Post by **mthornbury** » 10 Dec 2003, 17:56

I have a substantial water leak from the rear of my '91 BX ZDT engine.
It occurred overnight and I have not been able to trace it, short of getting the engine out, which I am not in a position to do.
I am reasonably sure it is not a hose... I have traced them blindly by hand and the water is not running out of them.
The flow of water is such that if you run a hose into the radioator, it runs in a constant stream out of the leak, about 200-300ml/minute - i.e. not just a drip.
That is without the engine running.
Can anyone tell me the likely culprit? Are there core plugs at the rear of the engine, about 2/3 of the way up from the sump just to the right of the l/r centreline?
I know it is a little like asking how long is a piece of string, but other than this problem, the car has been faultless...
I don't think it is worth getting it to a garage to fix, the hourly rate involved probably exceeds the value of the car, so I am looking for any handy hints that may enable me to fix it...
Any help warmly received.
Mike

Post by **RichardW** » 10 Dec 2003, 18:06

Mike,
There is a housing on the back of the engine for the water pump that is a known weak point. There are 3 hoses on a TD that connect to this - the heater outlet, the radiator return, and the thermostat bypass - all are of the braided type and not cheap. All (including the housing) are nasty to change. You'll need to get it up on ramps and be prepared for a hard slog!

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 10 Dec 2003, 19:11

Get the car up and wiggle/squeeze the hoses: as per previous reply it's most likely to be one of the three mentioned, although it won't be immediatly obvious. I had just such a leak appear on my BX and it turned out to be the fat radiator return hose where it was clipped to the pump housing, but I only discovered this by pulling/pushing the hoses until I could make the leak worse. Its dark, filthy,wet, and hard to see under there so you are in for some fun[:(!]! Its made a bit easier by removing the offside wheel, though.
Have you changed the cambelt lately? This is what caused mine to strart leaking, as the engine was jacked up and down to make the belt change easier, putting more strain on the end of an already dodgy 200,000mile 14 yr old hose.

mthornbury · Post by **mthornbury** » 10 Dec 2003, 21:16

Thanks BXBodger and Richard... I will investigate...
I had a new cambelt around 20k ago....probably not the cause.
the engine has around 180k on it...
Thx again,
Mike

mbunting · Post by **mbunting** » 10 Dec 2003, 22:01

Exactly the same circumstances ( water, belt, mileage etc with my car ).
Xantia 1.9TD
Using 4L of water... ahem.. coolant per day, and it's leaking to the floor, rather than getting in the cylinders.