2010 SRT 6.1 Coolant Leak

The other day, I noticed a leak under my car. I thought, "crap, it's leaking oil", but after looking further, it's coolant. Looks like it's leaking from a metal pipe that runs from the water pump in front, under the intake manifold, to a rubber hose in back of the engine and then to the heater. Here's a picture:



A few months back, I bought one of those endoscope cameras, and was able to snake it into the back and get a couple of pictures and a video of the leak. Anyway, pretty sure this is it:

https://youtube.com/shorts/0IBbn-0ZiJ0?feature=share

Excuse the shaky video, it's hard to hold the camera on the snake steady, and the engine was running when I took the shot. This is looking up from underneath the pipe.

I looked it up online, the metal tube is part number 5037891AA. The first couple of places I looked at had the part as discontinued, finally found one that had it, at a cost of almost $200! For a shitty foot long metal tube. Hmmmm. So, my question to all of you do-it-yourselfers, has anybody seen this problem before? What was the fix? Do you have to remove the intake manifold, and fuel rails, and other stuff to get this replaced? Or can you slide it out without taking all that stuff off? Any guidance? Thanks.

Rick

 

Could it just be an O Ring? Not sure how the bottom seals? From my view, it looks like plenty of space to pull it out.

 

I was pretty sure it was the heater pipe. Sure enough that I found a video online that showed how to remove the intake manifold, and did it. Turns out you don't have to separate the fuel rails and the injectors, the whole thing comes off in one piece. Remove the big pipe that goes to the air cleaner, that's pretty easy. Next, disconnect the fuel line, the electrical connections to the injectors, and the throttle body, the vacuum lines to the catch can (if you have one), and a small vacuum line on the front left, like so:



10 Small bolts hold the manifold on. Remove those and it's loose. There's a rubber hose on the back that goes to the brake booster, and an electrical connection to the MAF sensor. Undo those and it should be free.



Under the manifold is the pipe I needed to get to. There's a bolt holding it in the middle, so there's no way to do this without removing the manifold. Undo the rubber heater hose from the back, the 3 bolts that hold it in, and it just pulls straight out of the water pump in front. There's a temp sensor you have to unplug, too.



The pipe is now out. Odd that a piece of paint flaked off when I touched it.



What is that little black dot???





Pinhole. No shit. That must have been a defect in the metal from the beginning. Amazing it lasted 15 years. Now, I looked up this part and the online parts dealers either had it listed as discontinued, or the few that had one wanted $200 for it. Huh? For a shitty foot-and-a-half length of steel pipe? No, not doing that. I shined up the flaw on a wire wheel:



Filled it in with braze, I swear it took about 15 seconds to do from the time I lit the torch.



And, because I'm anal, I painted it after:



I ordered new gaskets for the manifold and an O-Ring for the pipe where it goes into the water pump, cuz I don't want to reuse old gaskets. I'll let you all know how it goes back together once the parts come in.

Rick

 

BTW, this is the video I watched to see how the manifold comes off:

 

Very informative, Rick. Thanks.

 

Good for you for being resourceful and plugging the leak. I'd be tempted to coat the repair with something further like liquid metal for overkill.

 

Once you put the brass on there, it's sealed for life.

 

From youah lips ta gawd’s eahs!

 

I do refrigeration and HVAC, we are flowing alloys all the time. Mostly SilPhos, Copper and Silver alloy.