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Water pump gasket leak

V

VolvoStudent

New member
Joined
Jul 29, 2017
Location
DC
Hello all,

I need advice, as my 1993 Volvo 240 has a occasional leak on the gasket of the water pump. Pump is working and pushing the coolant and I am 30K miles away from replacing the timing belt.
I think that is only a bad seal issue, so I am planning to clean the gasket and put sealant around the current gasket to hopefully seal the leak. I prefer not to use coolant sealers that are mix with coolant.
Is Permatex Aviation 3 good sealant to use for this application or should I use something else?
Thank you
 
Do not pour anything into the coolant to "stop" the leak.

Which gasket is leaking? The paper gasket between the pump and the block (back of pump) or the rubber ring between the pump and the cylinder head (top of pump)?

Either way, you will have to pull the water pump to re-seal it. You don't need to pull the timing belt to do the water pump. They are not connected.

When you do replace the seals, you don't need to use Permatex on the gaskets. I have had good luck with a thin coating of grease on the paper gasket and using some coolant to lubricate the rubber ring.
 
When you pull the water pump, be sure to get a Volvo top seal. Many of the aftermarket ones (including the Hepu-supplied ones) become leakers.
 
OP:

Are you thinking of gooping some gasket sealer on the outside of the waterpump, without first removing the pump and replacing the gasket?

If so, that is not recommended, but might buy you a little time: I don't know, I never tried such a half measure.

But if that is your plan, the sealant you referenced might work, but I'd opt for blue RTV.

The best plan is to remove the pump and replace the gasket(s), but if you only want to Band-Aid the problem, go ahead and goop up the outside where the leak area is and see what happens: doubt it will hold for long, but it might.
 
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Wren said:
When you pull the water pump, be sure to get a Volvo top seal. Many of the aftermarket ones (including the Hepu-supplied ones) become leakers.
Click to expand...

Try telling the a-holes at HEPU that (I did) - been fighting top to head seal issues for a while - never had an active leaker just a cool down drip, just enough to piss you off (because it shouldn't be doing it and the install was immaculate)

I've had leaking problems (after about a year) with all of them but I think I have finally solved the top seal issue (knock on wood) once and for all, no matter what brand

Use the ORIGINAL BLUE Permatex (NON "Ultra") and fill the the seal receiver in the pump, put in the new seal, wipe away the squeeze out on the inside of the hole (duh) and them lather up the top of the seal and all the exposed aluminum

Get it together and slide it to the face of the block and head ONCE and CLEAN so that fat ass bead seals 100% and nice and uniform (not smeary, hacky)

With ANY of the "Ultras" it was leaking every time the weather turned cold (like lasted about a year)

Last parts order I ordered up the HEPU pump (with it's seals), the Swedish Parts water pump kit (actually assembled in Sweden) the Victor-Reinz seals as well as Volvo "O.E.", just because of this common (for me anyway) pain in the ass issue. Wanted to see them all, side by side

EVERY DAMN ONE was a little different from the other - NO TWO were exactly alike and if you studied them closely you could find a reason to use any one of them over the others

For a while HEPU was providing some ****ty seal that became ROCK HARD after about a year and would develop tiny cracks. That's what moved me to write them - "what's up with the ****ty seals being packaged with a premium graded part?" They told me they were German and go pound sand. Yeah, right, Germanamese

But I do know one thing, they must have had some issue because the last HEPU I pulled had 50 Grand on it and even though it dribbled when cooling off, just like all the others had, it was still soft enough you could dent it with your finger nail and it'd spring back
 
Don't use any sealant, it's not required and it makes a mess. 90% of the leaks I've encountered have turned out to be leaky pumps or in one case a bad head gasket that was leaking right behind the top seal of the water pump. Gasket set is less than $3 and it takes 20 minutes to pull the water pump. As someone else mentioned, the timing belt doesn't have to be disturbed. You can easily spend more time than that trying to find a shortcut.
 
First thank you all for your fast responses.
OldschoolVolvo , it is rubber ring seal on the top of the pump that is occasionally dripping.

Mr.V I do repairs on the houses , but I am newbie when it comes to the engines, so tackling water pump replacement looks like a big move for me as I need to move other parts too...remove the fan, clutch , draining the coolant system...

I did get a quote of $550 to get this done in the shop by Volvo professional, that service will include timing belt replacement so I was thinking just to try "band -aid " the issue until I am due for timing belt replacement. Or until I get enough confidence to remove water pump myself :)

As my next project is replacing AC Cooling fan Relay that got melted and caught on the fire... Luckily I was idling getting ready to park when I saw smoke coming from under hood, so I have stoped the fire quickly so no other damage under the hood besides connector and relay being completely melted.

I have ordered new connector housing and pig tails from Dave Barton ( BTW..great service.. ) , so now I need to figure out best way to test all 4 wires so I know in what correct position to put them in the connector housing once pig tails are soldered.

Finally Wren, Thank you for advice , I will definitely order original Volvo part seal.
 
James10952001 said:
Don't use any sealant, it's not required and it makes a mess. 90% of the leaks I've encountered have turned out to be leaky pumps or in one case a bad head gasket that was leaking right behind the top seal of the water pump. Gasket set is less than $3 and it takes 20 minutes to pull the water pump. As someone else mentioned, the timing belt doesn't have to be disturbed. You can easily spend more time than that trying to find a shortcut.
Click to expand...

So after your advice and other people on this forum, I have looked online into water pump replacement and I will try to replace water pumps seals myself... I did find manual online https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/WaterPumpChange.html that suggest to replace all the studs and bolts so I will probably do that too.
 
Don't fear it, it's really a pretty simple job, the part I hate most is draining the coolant because it makes a mess. The whole process should take less than 2 hours if you really take your time. You don't even need very many tools. 10mm wrench, 10mm, 12mm, 13mm and 14mm sockets and ratchet, screwdriver or nut driver that fits the hose clamps, screwdriver that fits the fan shroud screws. That's about it. Remove the four nuts that hold the fan on and pull the fan off. Remove the fan shroud and fan and set them aside. Loosen the alternator belt tensioner and pull the pulley off the water pump and tuck the belts out of the way. Remove the coolant hose from the pump and drain the coolant. Remove the upper timing belt cover and now you can remove the 10mm bolts and nuts that hold the water pump on. You might want to stuff a paper towel in around the opening of the lower timing belt cover because it's easy to drop nuts down into there but otherwise that's about it. A sharp putty blade works well to scrape off bits of gasket from the block, make sure you remove all of it, usually not too hard unless someone has previously slathered it with sealant.

If you can assemble an Ikea bookshelf, you can replace a water pump in a 240.
 
Loosen the belt before pulling the fan nuts. Well.... crack em first with the belt on, but dont try to take em off until the belt is off or the pulley will bind and can damage the studs. Soak them in oil too first. Pull the fan and shroud together. Same going back in.

I glue gaskets to the component and then let it dry for 10 minutes or more. It will make lining the bolts up easier. I put the gasket to the block dry.
 
Yeah gluing the gasket to the pump is not a terrible idea, I don't do it personally but at least you won't spend an hour bent over scraping gasket bits off the block next time. I always loosen the fan nuts with the belts tight, then usually loosen the belts but in most cases I find the pulley stays in place either way.

Maybe I've just been lucky but I haven't had much trouble with those top seals. I've used whatever ones IPD sell in the gasket kit lately and so far so good. Only time will really verify though. It's not a terrific design but it beats that little short hose that Ford used on their V8s.
 
James10952001 said:
Don't use any sealant, it's not required and it makes a mess. 90% of the leaks I've encountered have turned out to be leaky pumps or in one case a bad head gasket that was leaking right behind the top seal of the water pump. Gasket set is less than $3 and it takes 20 minutes to pull the water pump. As someone else mentioned, the timing belt doesn't have to be disturbed. You can easily spend more time than that trying to find a shortcut.
Click to expand...
Bad advice, really bad advice

MIGHT have gotten away with it (dry seal install) when the car was new and the top seals were coming from a first world economy but not after 20 - 25 years
99% of the sealant is pushed out anyway and there is no "mess" if you know what you are doing - the sealant also acts as lubrication to allow for smooth expansion of the seal when you rotate the pump up against the head as well as filling any tiny pits and scratches

Bottom line - not using any sealer is just opening yourself up to a possible redo (note I said POSSIBLE) - why chance it?

The block, the pump and the head all expand and contract at different rates
No technique will leak right after the repair but that's not the test
The test is if it's still not leaking 6 months or a year down the road after multiple heatings and cool downs

If you're having a "mess" problem draining a red block then you need to work on your shop skills - probably one of the easiest cleanest vehicles there is to drain - I don't spill a drop

Maybe it's your 20 minute pull jobs causing you this issue?
 
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I got tired of the crappy gaskets that come with the pumps and have been using FIPG goop for the last few years w/o a gasket. Never a problem.
 
VolvoStudent said:
will this do the job?
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo-water-pump-gasket-kit-240-760-740-780-940
Click to expand...

That's a good quality kit - I just bought one from them - the country code on the SKU IS Sweden, for what that's worth

I also ordered the Victor-Reinz seals as well like I mentioned - they are thicker

If you properly apply the ORIGINAL blue Permatex you won't have any issues with any of them (except the chinese ones that get hard and crack after about 18 months)

There's just no way to know what HEPU (or any of 'em) is putting in their boxes at any given time - so use the Swedish kit or the Victor-Reinz

Unless you are ordering something else from FCP I'd suggest you buy a gasket set local - the shipping is going to kill you on $2 worth of "parts" - plenty of Victor-Reinz sellers around

As yes, always glue up the paper gasket ON THE PUMP with 3M or similar - something that grabs and dries fast - also wallow out the slotted holes for the pump rotation before you actually install it on the block

Won't hurt either if you run a tap in all the bolt holes and a die down the two studs too so you can slip in the pump and run the three screws down with your fingers QUICKLY after you've got the seal cinched up against your head

You want the Permatex #80022 for your top seal and the heater pipe square cut O-ring - DON'T use your aircraft stuff - it's good but for other applications - be sure to clean ALL the metal mating surfaces well and then wipe off any residue with brake clean or similar
 
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VolvoStudent said:
I also ordered the Victor-Reinz seals as well like I mentioned - they are thicker

I have found this V.R seal online only 99cents..
https://www.eeuroparts.com/Parts/43134/Engine-Water-Pump-O-Ring-Large-0570508/
Click to expand...

Well there you go. You know, using some old chewing gum would be even cheaper.

V-R may be OK. I don't know, but I do know that genuine Volvo stuff works and aftermarket stuff will let you down. I wouldn't pull a pump to save $10 and I don't know why anyone would.
 
Wren said:
That's not a Volvo part.

I see zero reason to use blue RTV goo on a water pump install. Volvo didn't use that mess and they didn't leak when they were new and yours won't either if you'll use REAL VOLVO seals and install them properly.
Click to expand...

Can you share the link where you can buy original seal?
I looked online and didnt find any.. only OEM
 
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