Looks to me like I'm leaking coolant and it seems to be coming from this spot on the rear of the right side cam box:
Nice big photo huh? So I put a socket to that bolt in the center of the photo and guess what? It's stripped! Does it make sense that coolant would be leaking from this point? What am I facing in the repair of this ? What else has to come off? This is all new to me but it looks like besides the stripped bolt I'd be facing valve adjustment and a new timing belt (not supposed to reuse them even though it's fairly new)?
Any hope of getting off easy by doing a thread repair (heli-coil) without removing the cam box?
Thanks Forum!
I think you have to pull the cam box and replace the gasket and probably heli-coil the head. (or some other solution for the strippage). New timing belt, retime it when it goes back together, etc etc. Working from memory here.
Pete
'80 FI Spider 2000
'74 and '79 X1/9 (past)
'75 BMW R75/6
2011 Chevy Malibu (daily driver)
2010 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab 4WD/STD BED
2002 Edgewater 175CC 80HP 4-Stroke Yamaha
2003 Jaguar XK8
2003 Jaguar XKR
2021 Jayco 22RB
2019 Bianchi Torino Bicycle
Thanks. I don't think I should be leaking coolant from there though should I? I'll look again, but of course it's freezing out there and we've got another big snow storm coming.
The cam box is full of motor oil, no coolant involved so if you have a coolant leak it's not that bolt even if it is stripped. Make doubly sure it's not one of the coolant hoses that run right over that area that is not the course or confirm it's coolant and not oil that's dripping.
Thank you. So the coolant must be coming from elsewhere. And the cam box is not under oil pressure so I don't think it will leak much oil. Maybe it's not so much of an issue? I can live with a bit of imperfection for a while until something else makes me need to go in there.
I 100% concur -- there shouldn't be any coolant there. Coolant flows below that and the coolant passages in the head shouldn't let any out; a coolant leak because of a bad head gasket (under the level of the exhaust header) can often be spotted by white exhaust and/or a slightly rough engine. If that bolt/thread that you identify is bad you could get oil leaking from the cam box which will be very very messy (and a hazard on the hot header), but the oil in the cam box isn't under pressure but just lashing about.
That said, and as Carl points out, you have two coolant hoses right there in the firewall that run to the dash heater core. The inboard of the two connects to that metal heater tube that runs up to the water pump. Also check where the outboard tube connects to the top of head, though I imagine you would have seen that pooling. For years I had the heater core bypassed (so a hose going directly from the heater tube to the top of the head) but then put it back in the loop last year with a newish heater valve. It's nice to have toasty feet now.
Cheers,
phaetn
1974 CS1
32/36 DFEV; CompuTronix ign.
9.8:1 c/r; 40/80 intake cam w/ Isky springs
Vicks' SS header & adj. cam pulleys
A/R's progressive coils, Koni Yellow dampers
205/50-15s on CD-66 style rims
Momo wheel, Corbeau seats w/ 5 pt belt pics and HD vids
Gotta agree that coolant shouldn't be coming form the cam box. More likely the short heater hose connected to the pipe coming back from the water pump. It also looks pretty corroded in the pic6utre. Sure it's not the source? A pin hole leak in the hose or coolant pipe will spray whenever you are hot as it's under pretty good pressure so a leak in the hose or pipe can also squirt up making it look like the leak is coming from higher up.
Jeff Klein, Aiken, SC
1980 FI Spider, Veridian with Tan (sold about a year ago), in the market for another project
1989 Spider, sold
2008 Mercedes SL65
2008 S600 Mercedes V12
