Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rootes75]

We finally have the cooling system complete on my Commercial lorry so today will filled the system. No leaks...at first, then we noticed a drip coming from the water pump. Not its gasket but from just behind the pulley. We timed the drip, once every minute and it was a small drip too. After an hour it wasn't visible at all. My thought now is to maybe apply some kind of radiator sealant?

I've had a look round but wondered if anyone else has tried any?

[D4B]

Perhaps it has one of those felt type seals, which now that it's got wet again will seal very nicely? If you can avoid any additives it is better.... keep an eye on it. I only know this because it happened on my Peugeot D4B which has a seal like here:

http://www.serie04.com/fr/refroidissement/1864-xxxxx-1.html

[Rick]

I'd be inclined to see how it goes also.

K-Seal works well on small rad leaks, not sure how it'd go on with a leaky pump mind!

Photos of the lorry now required

RJ
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[Jim.Walker]

Older vehicles usually have a rotating carbon seal backed up with a spring to allow the shaft to rotate without water loss.
If yours is that type and the seal is faulty - either a damaged or cracked face, or the loading spring is broken, replacement is the only cure.
However after standing idle for a long time the face on which the carbon seal works can corrode and/or the spring can be stuck in "hardened goo".
These problems may solve themselves as parts once more in motion bed in and the leaks MAY stop. Only time will tell.
Leak-cure compounds are unlikely to help because a leak from behind the pulley (or through a small hole under some pumps) will be from the rotating seal and anti-leak compounds generally only have any effect on static leaks like gaskets etc.
The water pumps on older vehicles are generally quite easily dismantled though a press is handy. When I was a lad in a garage in the 1950s exchange water pumps had not been introduced and we frequently dismantled them to fit new bearings, springs or seals.
My last pump overhaul in the 1990s was from a 1.5 BMC diesel in a boat. Genuine parts were seemingly non-existent but I managed to put a decent face on the seal with a piece of production paper on a flat surface, found a suitable uncorroded spring in the scrap box and a very helpful (one man) bearing supplier managed to trace and supply a genuine cylinder (tube) bearing.
The pump was still woking OK well into the 2000s when I last saw the boat.
Jim.
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[peter scott]

What ever you do never use any radiator sealant that you pour into the coolant. It will be much easier to fix properly than desoldering/resoldering the top and bottom of the radiator to clear the tubes blocked by sealant.

Peter
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1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Rootes75]

Its been well over a week now and I have been down the yard every couple of days to check for leaks. There have been none for over a week now so my thought is that its a felt seal that once wet has sealed up. The lorry has been off the road and drained since 1965 so it would have been very dry!

[baconsdozen]

A retired motor engineer used to live near me,he always put a cap full of brake fluid in the cooling water,he reckoned it provided lubrication for the pump seal. Anyone else ever hear of this?
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[peter scott]