[sirstopher]

I have been loosing coolant over the last 4 weeks. I add about 2 cups of coolant every week to the car but on Sunday I topped her off and today I got my low coolant light. I again topped the car off.

Tonight it was cool enough to open the hood and look around. I got under the car and noticed coolant in the middle of the valley pan or the front skid pan. In front of the oil filter hole. I took the panels off on top of the motor and was looking around to see where it might be coming from.

So my question is, from the flashlight I could see reflection from what I do think is the weep hole. I do see coolant in the weep hole, it's not dripping but my car is parked upwards in my driveway.

I just had it at the shop for inspections not less than 3 weeks ago and they said everything looked great.

Here is a photo of what I think is the weep hole in the background. You can see reflection from the flash.

Should any coolant even be here?
What are my options short of selling the car, will it do damage to the motor if I keep driving it?

Shaking....

 

[Rookie2008]

Can't really tell by the pic but it does NOT look like the weep hole to me. I could be wrong though. When mines was leaking it clearly poured out of the front of the engine. No, I would not sell the car over the weep hole if that's the case. Weep hole should cost you around 2k-3k to fix at a Indy depending.

 

[sirstopher]

Edited photo.

 

[Rookie2008]

from this view YES it looks like the weep hole. But once again I may be wrong. Some other members hopefully will chime in an confirm.

 

[sirstopher]

Ok, friend of mine called and said it might be back pressure from a bad water pump. I am starting to really enjoy this car and all of the educational experiences I am having with it. Thanks rookie for the responses, I will see if I can put it up on a lift tomorrow and check it out in more depth.

It's just been so hot here lately, 106 today and 112 all last week.

 

[Db750]

Sirstopher,

Sorry to hear you are having these problems. Wish I was more knowledgable and able to offer some help. Hope you get it worked out my friend.

David

 

[sirstopher]

I went by my Indy this morning. We took off the lower skid pan and looked up into the area where the weep hole is. It was the conclusion that my indy needs to open the front of the car up to examine further. He stated that it's one of to areas. 1 the coolant pipe, that he can replace for 1300-1500 or the water pump. It looks to me that the leak is right above the water pump and I did see coolant last night at the weep hole. I don't know what the cost of the repair would be if it's the water pump.

I am hoping that it's the cheaper of the two. If it is the coolant pipe my Indy said he has done 8 of these repairs and can have the car out in 1 service day with parts pre-ordered.

Monday I will know more. Chime in if you have had the coolant pipe replaced.

 

[Rookie2008]

That is a excellent price for the collant pipe. As for the water pump I believe the labor is not too expensive compared to the collant pipe. If you have the cash an if intact it is the weep hole replace water pump an all coolant hoses .

 

[Boosejaw]

Hope you get this all worked out Sirstopher!
How hard is it to replace the waterpump?

Good thing you spotted this early.

 

[Teamdavis]

u can replace the water pump in about 2hrs from tear down to finish,i had to repace mines 6 months ago.

 

[ndabunka]

If you read the threads on it you will find that the water pumps on these cars fail around 80K miles. I JUST had mine done about a month ago. Here are the details: The pump itself is around $270, Thermostat is another $70. Labor is quoted around 4 hours and ran me $411 so costs right around $850 at a non-BMW dealer. I did NOT have ANY of the effects you are experiencing. Rather, my pump was rattling making the car sound more like a Diesel than a "ultimate driving machine". After the repair work, everything is PERFECT once more. Never drove it far and never had any water leaks and never had any over heating either so in my case, the pump had not completely failed. It just appeared to have been starting to "break apart".

 

[SFbay]

Its a weep hole 199%!!!
Waterpimp hole is in different location))