Steam coming from the engine.. water pump failure?

[Rawhide 0]

Typical bad timing my corrado has decided to give me some grief the one time I really need it at the weekend.

 

I was driving home tonight quickly but not ragging it. It was a short hop and the oil was only about 80 degrees. When I pulled up at the lights I thought I had smoke coming from the engine. I was relieved to find out it was only steam when I opened the bonnet.

 

I noticed liquid draining from the bottom of the car. I was coolant and it looked clear. I released the overflow cap and let the pressure out. I let the car cool a bit and then restarted the engine. It sounded a little noisy from the drivers side at the front. Is this where the pump is located?

 

The car seemed to not be leaking so I went home the remaining mile smoothly. The water pressure was about 90-100 degrees and the oil rose to about 100. As I pulled up at my location it was steaming a bit but didn't apear to be leaking.

 

Before this the car has always been good as gold. The car has 76k on it and I think the pump was replaced before but I'll need to check. I've never had this happen before so I'm not sure what it could be. It's dark right now so I can't check until later.

 

I'm guessing it can't be the head gasket as the overflow coolant looked clear and the leaking coolant clean. Also gasket failure would not cause a leak I guess.

 

Last week after sitting in a traffic jam for an hour and half the coolant warning light came on. When I got home I topped up the overflow when the car was cool. (but not cold) to the mid point. Did I overfill it?

 

I really need to get this sorted by the weekend so any advise would be appreciated.

 

I think the car knew I was thinking of selling it. Even after treating it to a new windscreen and Lupo wiper conversion yesterday :roll:

[Rawhide 0]

Oh it's a 93 VR6 by the way :oops:

[Rawhide 0]

Just searching the archive and wondered where the auxiliary water pump is? If there was steam coming off the block could the be a hose be leaking? Surely if the main water pump failed the water would just fall out and there would not be steam everywhere?

[2cc 0]

The aux pump is on the end of the block behind the coil pack. Difficult to see as it (& the coil pack) is covered by the engine top covers. Have you any idea where the leak is yet? It could well be a hose, the one feeding the heater comes out the top of the head, at the back, and is prone to failing.

[Rawhide 0]

The aux pump is on the end of the block behind the coil pack. Difficult to see as it (& the coil pack) is covered by the engine top covers. Have you any idea where the leak is yet? It could well be a hose, the one feeding the heater comes out the top of the head, at the back, and is prone to failing.

 

Dammit.. why does bad luck happen in threes :mad:

 

I hope it is something like you mention. I imagine the water pump is low down in the block and would not cause a lot a steam if it failed.

[2cc 0]

Well, mine's never failed (thinks - is that the kiss of death) but I wouldn't expect it to leak, just not pump like it should and/or be rather noisy.

That's a bumer getting towed but hopefully they won't charge you as you do have a permit; but being pessimistic I expect they will because you weren't displaying it.

Luck & keep us posted

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I think it will either be the main pump or the main plastic transfer pipe, which are renowned for cracking, as is the thermostat housing.

 

The main water pump has a pressure relief valve in it which dumps coolant to the ground when the internal seals let go.

 

If steam is coming off the block, it's quiet likely to be transfer pipe/stat housing related. The aux pump can also weep when it lets go.

[Guest]

Steam coming from under the hood can literally be from a number of failed parts. Hoses such as the upper rad hose with the Y in it will commonly leak so I would begin by closely looking at all of the hoses first. The rad cap can also fail & not release pressure which can cause steam to be released from hose connections or orings in the thermostat / cross-over pipe. I find that the thermostat housing will seep / leak coolant but because it is low down in the cooling system they generally won't release steam. The auxilery cooling pumps do wear out and have been known to leak so that is worth checking.

 

If this were mine I would let the car heat up making sure it is full of coolant and then try to identify where the steam is coming from and search that area for a leak. This link may help out, the auxilery coolant pump is located in Pic, item number 4 and most other major items are listed... Underhood VR6.

 

Cheers, Dennis

[Rawhide 0]

Thanks a lot guys.. It was the pipe that leads to the heater that failed. It sheared off when the AA guy was messing around with it. I've cut about two inches off the end and it's fine now. I'll get a replacement hose but it good for now.

 

Did all the repairs in the car pound. Well I had to pay to be there and it was well lit so I may as well get value for money! Still had to pay £200 but I reckon I will get it back as Lambeth are so corrupt that they have so many cases to go through they just buckle. I'll post a pic of my permit tommorow. It really is comedy how petty some people can be.

[2cc 0]

Holy s**t £200 Glad I live in the sticks; hope you win the argument. Still, glad you've fixed it.

Also learned a couple of things from this, didn't know the pump had that pressure valve Kev.

Like your posts Dennis, very informative m8

[lee_golf_v5 0]

Hello, I seem to be having the same problem here. I am going to post some pictures to show where the steam seems to originate from and I have indeed seen some liquid drop and boil when hitting the part of the engine under the yellow X I have placed. Hopefully this is just a pipe and can be easily replaced. Can you also please tell me if this might cause the steam to appear like it is coming from the whole block......

 

I seem to be able to recreate the steam under hard acceleration, if I have the bonnet open and rev hard it seems to force a leak, and when driving at around 30+

I can hear a whirring sometimes but not always and its not very loud.

 

Lee

 

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[Toad 0]

That's a breather for the rocker cover. No coolant around those pipes. Nearest coolant will be the two pipes going into the top of the throttle body.

[lee_golf_v5 0]

Well it was under those pipes I saw a liquid of some sort drop out and boil away.......

 

Lee

[dr_mat 0]

There is a hose under the cable tidy that runs to the heater matrix in the cabin, from the cylinder head. That's most commonly the first hose to fail on a VR6..

[lee_golf_v5 0]

Is this an expensive fix????

 

Lee

[Toad 0]

There is a hose under the cable tidy that runs to the heater matrix in the cabin, from the cylinder head. That's most commonly the first hose to fail on a VR6..

 

There isn't one under that end though Dr. The one that runs to the heater matrix fixes to the head near the aux water pump, and has a t off to the throttlebody.

 

It's not too cheap. £35 or so I think.

 

The pipes you pointed at get oil vapour build up in them, and occasionally a bit of moisture if the car hasn't been run much recently. I'd check that they havent perished and started dripping oil out.

[dr_mat 0]

There isn't one under that end though Dr. The one that runs to the heater matrix fixes to the head near the aux water pump, and has a t off to the throttlebody.

 

It's not too cheap. £35 or so I think.

 

Yep, it's mounted somewhere near the middle of the rear of the head, but in my experience it's really tough to tell where water is coming from since it tends to piss out everywhere when it's under pressure ...

£35 will be plus VAT, iirc..!