TOPIC:

Okay so I'm looking for some advice before I tear into my dad's 1300 here in the future. Last summer I replaced the timing idler gear that is known to be a problem with the Liska upgraded gear. After doing so I changed the oil and found coolant in there. It has always used a little coolant but never leaks externally. Is there a good way to find the leak and pinpoint it? I've seen similar posts on here about 2ater pump seals but would like to be sure before I go chasing it and avoid any unnecessary repairs.

Thanks for any and all advice.

ther's only a couple of point where the coolant interfaces with the oil. 1would be the head gasket and the other would be the water pump shaft seal. Its more likely the waterpump shaft seal since at that point the coolant is at a higher pressure than the crankcase. When theres a problem with oil in the coolant, we tend to look at the head gasket since the oil pressure is higher in the feed ports to the camshaft than the coolant pressure in the system. The only other area for a coolant leak to the crankcase is the cylinder liner orings and to date I'm not aware of any failures of those orings.

If I had to guess, because you replaced the idler gear already, you had to take off the head to do so- if you ran a new head gasket (as you should), that should be fine.

Gotta agree with Kawboy about the water pump shaft seal. Thankfully, that one's easy to get to, as everything can be pulled out the front of the engine after you remove the radiator. May as well replace all the seals while you're in there- they don't add up to anything too expensive, and are all relatively easy to come by.