Hey all -- couldn't find much on google or searching the forum but driving yesterday I heard some belt squeal suddenly under medium load, a few minutes later had the low coolant light -- stopped and checked and was down about a half gallon, topped up with distilled water and drove the 5mi back to my garage figuring i would have it brought in to check the tensioner after the fourth and would monitor the coolant [i thought i had just evaporated a bit over time as its been very hot]. By the time I got back to my garage I checked the expansion tank and it was down again [maybe 1/4 gal this time].

I'm assuming the water pump is leaking, spitting a little coolant onto the belt under load but I haven't been able to investigate much yet. Has anyone heard much or had issues with their water pump or is there something else I should look for. I'd really like to have the car up again by the 4th since I had a road trip planned... Just need to know what parts to order so when I tear down I have everything necessary to fix the likely candidates.

2014 V6 Vert

 

 

Water pump failures and leakage have been a fact of life for the 5.0 V8 Supercharged motor. I had it replaced on my 2010 XFR and my 2015 F-Type R. My 2017 SVR is still under 20K miles, so let's see what happens.

 

Factory warranty on my 15R is up in a couple months. No coolant loss. 18k miles. I then have a carmax warranty until summer 2022, which I hope is good when I need it.

 

really appreciate this reminder -- i should have known better as i've felt with this issue on my Jeep in the past. I definitely have a leak [pretty sure its the water pump after investigating a bit today] but I was able to top it up and bleed it a bit -- lost barely any coolant on a 40 mile round trip to test. I have an appointment for Thursday morning, they think they can swap the water pump quickly so I think we will delay departure by a day and enjoy the boat on the fourth instead.

I'll let you all know what the final result is and hopefully people searching in the future will stumble here.

Belt squeal is pretty bad under load for the first second or so and I can see some dampness around the waterpump

 

Took the car for an hour drive tonight to go up and see my parents -- heard a lot of squealing and pulled over to top up the overflow tank a couple times...really didn't loose too much water on the ride...parked at their house and got out to check the water / top off -- as soon as i opened the overflow cap it boiled over out of the expansion tank -- temp gauge never moved a hair on the drive...I'm still pretty sure its the water pump but I'm a bit more concerned now than I was before, I thought it was just a noisy / leaky bearing in the pump but this points to something else potentially, no?

Still hoping to get it looked at on Thursday but the tech who promised to squeeze me in won't be working anymore due to a family emergency so I'm not confident I'll be able to get it serviced...

 

 

Thought about that but that wouldn't explain the squealing of the serpentine belt under load, would it? Appreciate the input though

 

 

 

Check the thin plastic coolant pipes (part of the expansion tank system) that run across the top of the front of the supercharger/inlet.
They get brittle with age and crack, one of mine developed a hairline crack in the far right (as you look at the motor) join a few months back and was dripping coolant onto the top of the inlet which was then running down over the belts and the top of the SC.
Start the car up, get the engine warm (ie pressurise the coolant), then gently wiggle those pipes to see if you can spot a leak. Don't wiggle too hard or you risk breaking the pipe right off which would not be fun!

 

sadly replaced that too during the water pump swap as it was broken during removal

current theories are: plastic manifold right on top of the throttle body could have a split in it, there's an aluminum coupler that connects that to the front cross over pipe right next to the supercharger nose -- the rear cross over pipe could be leaking at the bottom where we can't see it -- the thermostat on the driver's side could be leaking on the bottom where we can't see it

going to pressure test it this week and see what comes of it -- was supposed to take the car to NYC next weekend but its seeming somewhat unlikely that it will be roadworthy by then.

 

also during the work we discovered the supercharger spring is bad and we will need to replace it this winter -- thankfully i'll be spending 6 weeks or so away during December / January so leaving the car at the shop during that time will not be too much of a bummer and we can fix the little issues.

 

 

If I were you, I'd consider replacing them before they fail as tracking down a leak is turning out to be much more challenging on this car than on others in the past.

My list of tasks for this winter is getting longer and longer but while I have the supercharger off for the isolator spring, I'll be replacing the coolant line under the supercharger with braided stainless as well -- might even go so far as to do all the others even though they'll be relatively new.

 

You can replace the coupler without removing the supercharger.

 

What makes you say that?
There are heaps of threads and posts around here saying the opposite, and that the only way to get the snout off the supercharger so the coupler can be replaced is to remove the supercharger from the engine. Apparently one or two of the bolts which hold the snout on simply cannot be accessed with the supercharger still bolted to the engine.

 

When I was working for a Jag/Rover dealer I watched them do it. It involved lifting the front of the supercharger but not removing it. We were doing so many they had down to a science.

 

Car was pressure tested today and the result is the front crossover pipe is leaking -- supercharger needs to come off to replace.

Parts are being ordered today, here's to hoping they can find the time to finish it up by Friday.

Sadly the supercharger is coming off but we will be skipping the coupler for now as I don't have the time to wait the extra day for them to do it.

 

You should do the front snout as its barely any more labor, just a part. Youll pay all the labor all over again to wait. And i would also replace the plastic heater cross over pipe on the back of the engine too. It will fail soon after the front one goes. And its much easier on the ftype than all the others. And yes the super charger only lifts up to replaced all these parts and snout you do not remove it from the engine