[scottgas]

Been working on wife's 07 Se V6. Doing timing belt/water pump. Bought cheap Amazon kit. Already been chastised about it. Anyway, new pump has slight seepage before even running engine. Coolant still weeps out. Pulled everything back apart and removed pump. The impeller is covered in a whiteish goop looking stuff. I used Prestone green coolant that is supposed to be compatible with all makes. Did I use the wrong coolant or is this a bad reaction with a cheap pump?

 

[The_Evenger]

Did the impeller look like that before installing it? I've only ever used the standard green stuff, don't know if others can have chemical reactions.

 

[peachferrari]

The coolant should be fine if it's ethylene glycol based (usually will say right on the front of the bottle). I'm not sure why you're getting buildup there that's really weird.

As for the seepage, most aftermarket water pumps come with a really cheap paper gasket. I always use the OEM Hyundai gasket (part no 25124-371000. Even with the Gates kit which is widely regarded as the best for our cars I still use the OEM gasket.

 

[chase206]

Cheap water pumps typically have issues leaking out the bearing seal. The cheap materials will fail prematurely.

Looks like you already had an MLS gasket so perhaps it was faulty. Try either the Hyundai or Mahle brand gasket with your next water pump.

 

[scottgas]

 

[scottgas]

I was actually using a the Mahle steel gasket from Autozone. In the above pic you will see a small black line. This is where it was seeping out of. It was at the top center right hand side. It wasn't through the shaft. Right in the corner where the mark is I noticed it was wet. I blew it dry with shop air thinking maybe it was spillage or something. I checked it a while later and it was wet again. I did this a few more times just to see and it kept coming back. Bolts were all tightened gradually in a star-ish pattern.

I did put a few small dots of ultra gray rtv on the gasket on the pump side to keep it in place. I couldn't keep the gasket in place on the bock and still get the pump on. The gasket kept shifting. Could it be the uneven rtv application would cause it too leak?

 

[chase206]

I would not use any RTV on the Hyundai/Mahle gaskets which are self sealing with that black coating. How about torque specs? Did you evenly torque all the bolts down with a torque wrench per the Hyundai manual? If not, uneven torque will cause a leak eventually due to uneven thermal expansion.

 

[scottgas]

Did the impeller look like that before installing it? I've only ever used the standard green stuff, don't know if others can have chemical reactions.

The impeller looked like a normal fresh water pump impeller. Like I mentioned, I used Prestone green that said it was compatible with all makes.

 

[scottgas]

I would not use any RTV on the Hyundai/Mahle gaskets which are self sealing with that black coating. How about torque specs? Did you evenly torque all the bolts down with a torque wrench per the Hyundai manual? If not, uneven torque will cause a leak eventually due to uneven thermal expansion.

Just saw your post on my other thread. Probably just gonna gate a Gates pump and new Mahle gasket.

 

[scottgas]

I would not use any RTV on the Hyundai/Mahle gaskets which are self sealing with that black coating. How about torque specs? Did you evenly torque all the bolts down with a torque wrench per the Hyundai manual? If not, uneven torque will cause a leak eventually due to uneven thermal expansion.

The rtv applied was not on the entire gasket, just in a few spots to hold in place. That might be the issue. Will have to figure out a way to keep in place for the next one. Did not use a torque wrench. Ive honestly never used a torque wrench on things like water pumps. I did use a star-ish pattern and gradually tightened in a star pattern. I don't think it was an uneven torque issue causing the leak.

 

[aveenav]

The rtv applied was not on the entire gasket, just in a few spots to hold in place. That might be the issue. Will have to figure out a way to keep in place for the next one. Did not use a torque wrench. Ive honestly never used a torque wrench on things like water pumps. I did use a star-ish pattern and gradually tightened in a star pattern. I don't think it was an uneven torque issue causing the leak.

Prestone coolant is what I have been using without any issues. The only time i used RTV silicone was when the gasket was paper material. The metal gasket doesn't require any sealant.
Try to get OEM water pump (korean made) some Gates wp are hit or miss (chinese made). Torque wrench is a must i think.

 

[chase206]

Try to get OEM water pump (korean made) some Gates wp are hit or miss (chinese made). Torque wrench is a must i think.

OEM is Gates though. Hyundai doesn't make any of the timing components and simply white labels other brands. I've torn down two original motors that were just over 60k miles and all the timing and water pump components were Gates. One was an 04 and the other was an 06. All the Gates kits that failed were chalked up to be user error on installation. Or the person bought a hodge podge kit from ebay that only contained a Gates belt and all the other components were junk brands.

 

[peachferrari]

Yeah I thought that gasket looked a little better than some, but yeah as stated I wouldn't use any RTV anywhere on it. What I do is put 2 bolts through on opposite sides of the pump, hang the gasket on those and use them to get the pump in place and started.

And I'd highly recommend a torque wrench for this job. I have the Harbor Freight ones you can get on sale for like $10 and they work great. The spec for the water pump is 11-16 lb ft so I usually go to about 14 in two steps---go in an alternating pattern to like 7 lb ft on all bolts, then to 14.

 

[cplangreder]

Been working on wife's 07 Se V6. Doing timing belt/water pump. Bought cheap Amazon kit. Already been chastised about it. Anyway, new pump has slight seepage before even running engine. Coolant still weeps out. Pulled everything back apart and removed pump. The impeller is covered in a whiteish goop looking stuff. I used Prestone green coolant that is supposed to be compatible with all makes. Did I use the wrong coolant or is this a bad reaction with a cheap pump?

That sucks! A buddy of mine ran into the exact same problem. He said to go to rockauto.com. I, myself, have not had any problems with Amazon, but I have not had to replace my waterpump yet. Best of luck to you.

 

[scottgas]

So the car is back together with same pump and fresh Mahle gasket. I think the 1st time I used straight coolant. I had 4 jugs under the work bench. 2 were straight and 2 were already mixed 50/50. Not sure if straight coolant would cause the issue. I ended up making some threaded studs out of old bolts to help hold the gasket in place. Also loosened the black cover plat that goes behind the cam sprockets. This made it much easier to get the pump in place. I did use a torque wrench for the water pump this time.

Took 2 times installing the timing belt to get it on right. The 1st time I wasn't happy that the cams were perfect. Got it all back together and car fired right up and idled nice and smooth and quiet.

Car is still in the garage as I am waiting on front tie rods to come in. They were SHOT...lol