I've just changed the oil and filter on my 1977 Merak SS. Very simple to do. While I was doing stuff, I added coolant to the coolant reservoir too. Once I ran the engine to circulate the oil before I checked the oil level, I noticed coolant dripping from the cabin side of the engine, near the water pump. Luckily my car has an inspection panel between the rear seats. Once I removed this I noticed a small stream of coolant dripping from a small hole manufactured into the engine casing. I attach a photo, does anyone know what this hole is for? What does it do? The engine is running well BTW. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The impeller pump seal is failing or has failed. Very sorry but that is an engine out job as the front cover must be removed. Good news is there is an upgraded seal that is far superior to original
Scratch that. I checked my notes on this. You do not have to remove the engine! The job is removing the impeller cover and using a small puller to remove the impeller. David Hume has the info regarding the new seal as it escapes me what it was but I remember it was very cheap and readily available
In case you do not know of David Hume. His company is Excelsior Motors, located in Kentucky https://www.excelsiormotors.com/ Ivan
Thanks @thecarnut . I have read about the improved seal but I understand that some machining is needed to make it fit? I'm lucky that my Merak has an inspection panel between the rear seats which will make this job so much easier.
I put two of those in my Bora for the water pump, distributor and headers installation ease. A very worthwhile modification. Can you not get the entire pump off and just have it serviced. I find that very difficult in car service repairs can sometimes not work out. Think turbo removals on Biturbos. I always pulled the engine and tranny after trying once.
the c114 engine pump impeller is attached directly to the Jack shaft which drives the camshafts and at the other end drives a shaft which drives the alternator, ac compressor and hydraulics. The c114 water pump is great in that there are no bearings to go bad, but challenging in that there is no pump to remove.
So I made a start on removing the water pump. Several hoses of different size secured with jubilee clips. Then two 12mm bolts holding the water pump cover on. First one off then I realised that the second 12mm Bolt was going to foul on the thermostat housing. Several more hoses and 4 hard to reach 10mm bolts to loosen and move the housing enough to get the second bolt out . Oh and of course now that you’ve taken the thermostat housing off you’re going to need to order some new gaskets. I have stopped for the time being while waiting waiting for Eurospares to let me know how long the water pump seal will take to arrive. They are also available for citron that sounds so I might wander into some SM forums if that doesn’t sound too kinky!
I recommend calling David Hume as he will have the two gaskets and O-ring for the pump housing and updated pump seal. Give him a call (859) 879-6170. I have actually not even used the two tiny paper gaskets in question in the past, rather I’ve used ‘the right stuff’ gasket maker and it works very well too.
I am a newby when it comes to gaskets for coolant parts. I was just going to use the paper gaskets, but I'd be interested to hear why you decided to use gasket maker instead.
I had taken it off and on and ripped the gasket. Rather than replacing I just used the stuff I mentioned and it worked and has been working fine. Some manufacturers use this gasket maker in place of gaskets now anyway. It's not silicon, it quite literally forms a gasket after applying it after allowing it to set up a few minutes before bolting it back.
Sometimes the paper gaskets can tear during assembly and depending on the quality they may fail much earlier than an anaerobic gasket maker. You do need to be sure that the gaskets thickness isn't a part of any clearance issues with the impeller and housing. I'm unfamiliar with the Merak's setup so asking David Hume's shop would be a good idea.
Thanks for the help so far. I had to order a wobble socket extension in order to undo one of the 10mm bolts on the housing that also contains the thermostat. i needed to remove this to remove on of the 2 bolts on the water pump housing. I am now looking at the impeller, which is firmly attached to the shaft. Any tips on removing this? The sides are flush so I cannot easily get a puller on it? Also, I noticed a small item on the parts diagram. What is this for please? I feel like we're almost there!
Sorry not to have included a parts diagram with my question, I couldn't upload any images for a while. It's number 52.
#52 is a woodruff key. It is a half moon piece of metal that fits inside a slot in the shaft. It is what keeps the impeller from spinning freely on the shaft #8 is a hose Ivan
Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Photo of the shaft during the engine rebuild 5 years ago
Thanks Ivan. I will keep an eye out for that when I get the impeller off. Any thoughts about how to remove an impeller like this?
Best to talk to someone like David Hume whose done it many times before. You can also check with the Citroen SM folks as it is the same engine. The SM folks tend to be very "techie" and know their stuff (you must if you own a SM ) Ivan
So the hole that you show weeping coolant in the top photo is an outlet to indicate a leaking waterpump seal inside the housing.. Clever. And similar to other water pumps, just never seen it on an engine block like that. Belfry, hope you have met with success... For what it's worth - regarding the Maserati V6; The Citroen SM "messages" forum at [email protected] is very active and answers technical questions very quickly. They are also a cornucopia of knowledge, you can browse and learn stuff you didn't even know you needed or didn't need to know. LOL. Cheers, - Art
