Coolant Leak 21 GTI SE which lead to engine overheat

[msmith1181.ms]

I blew a coolant hose & my '21 GTI SE 130 which overheated & I had to drive it longer than I should have to get to help & also out of the super rough river.
So we ended up fixing the hose and thought all was good until I realized the coolant was still leaking. The ski had absolutely no performance issues until it ran out of coolant. I was scared a head gasket blew or I cracked the block, luckily no water was in the oil and that was ruled out. I let the ski sit as soon as I realized what was happening & started troubleshooting. Still no water in the ski. My ski sits on a lift off my pier normally, so I finally took it to someone to look at. He said it was the water pump housing so I let him repair it. He claims its still leaking even while just sitting off, but water is now in the ski under the engine everywhere. When I took it to him it had never had water inside. He is now trying to say that the PTO Cover/ Drive/Timing assembly is cracked which is a much more involved repair so it would be like $3000.
I decided to trust my gut & take it home since it was not leaking in the ski but now he claims it is still leaking actually worse by the look of it than before I brought it to him. I filled it with water instead of wasting coolant to see it leaks just sitting like he says. So far no leak detected and It has been sitting overnight the inside of the ski is dry. I plan on running it a bit to see if I can see if it's leaking while its on. But could a cracked PTO or Drive/timing assembly be causing the leak? Or does anyone have any insight? I also put something under the ride plate to see if it was leaking from the ride plate.

 

[dcm0123]

There is a weep hole between the oil pump and the water pump. Check to see if it is leaking from there. If it is, you would need to remove the PTO housing to replace the seal. Not sure if there is room to do this in your machine without having to remove the engine.

A cracked PTO housing could leak coolant or oil and would require replacement.

Use gunk engine cleaner to wash and clean under the engine. Dry it out thoroughly. Then place newspaper or something under the engine and start the engine so you can see where the leak originates from.

Make sure you properly drain the engine and replace the antifreeze prior to winter.

 

[msmith1181.ms]

There is a weep hole between the oil pump and the water pump. Check to see if it is leaking from there. If it is, you would need to remove the PTO housing to replace the seal. Not sure if there is room to do this in your machine without having to remove the engine.

A cracked PTO housing could leak coolant or oil and would require replacement.

Use gunk engine cleaner to wash and clean under the engine. Dry it out thoroughly. Then place newspaper or something under the engine and start the engine so you can see where the leak originates from.

Make sure you properly drain the engine and replace the antifreeze prior to winter.


View attachment 66851

Thank you! It is leaking but not nearly what the mechanic said. And it does appear to be coming from the hole pictured. So I’m asking because I’m not sure, to replace the rotary and oil seal the whole big metal housing has to come off or just the water pump housing? I looked up the parts and it appears to be accessible just removing the water pump housing or do I have that wrong. I’m praying I can access it without having to remove the engine. Thank you for your response!

 

[msmith1181.ms]

Edit… I did clean out the ski and dried out every bit of water to determine where the leak was coming from.

 

[dcm0123]

I replaced both seals when I rebuilt the engine last year per the procedure using the special tools in the manual as shown below.
The process is you press the seal into the housing. Then you support the seal with the special tool and press the shaft through the seal until the shaft bottoms in the tool.
If the shaft is not supported it may jam the oil pump when the seal is pressed on to the shaft as you would have to do without removing the cover.
There may be other ways but the manual shows how to do it with the cover off.

Maybe someone else can provide input.

 

[spinyard]

This is a pull the engine job no way you can replace that seal with the engine in the hull. It’s not that hard but you have to disconnect a ton of stuff to get the motor out.

 

[msmith1181.ms]

Thank you for your replies! I do understand what I am looking at now and I got my hands on a service manual so my nephew & I will be getting it done this weekend!