[76Alfetta]

Was working on my 94' LS and noticed I now have a water leak when fully hot down behind the engine but not leaking into the interior of the car. I suspect a blown heater hose maybe? any suggestions on the troubleshooting for it?

Also, on another thread I read about cleaning the ignition module connections near the air cleaner box and under the dashpot for the cruise control unit. For the life of me I can't find them. I do see (2) multi-wire conectors under the dashpot but no 3 wire connectors. Can someone send me a picture of where these are and what they look like? much thanks.

 

[Alfisto Steve]

Was working on my 94' LS and noticed I now have a water leak when fully hot down behind the engine but not leaking into the interior of the car. I suspect a blown heater hose maybe? any suggestions on the troubleshooting for it?

Also, on another thread I read about cleaning the ignition module connections near the air cleaner box and under the dashpot for the cruise control unit. For the life of me I can't find them. I do see (2) multi-wire conectors under the dashpot but no 3 wire connectors. Can someone send me a picture of where these are and what they look like? much thanks.

Those two multi 7-wire modules setting side by side are ignition modules.

As for water leak check item 9 the molded rubber hose and tee fitting assembly that is return from heater core to bottom of coolant tank and then curves onto a return pipe bolted to rear of engine between heads.

 

[BlackAlfa]

Those two multi 6-wire modules setting side by side are ignition modules.

Each connector has 7-wire each - to be more exact. There are 3 switching transistor circuits inside each module: 3 signals from the ECU to control sparks to 3 cylinders (these go to the transistor base terminals), 3 output signals to the coils (collector terminals) and 1 common ground for all 3 transistors (emitter terminals).

Beside piping (coolant hoses) failure, water leak can possibly come from a cracked coolant bottle or from the coolant bottle overflow tube if the system is not pressurized enough!

 

[Alfisto Steve]

Each connector has 7-wire each - to be more exact. There are 3 switching transistor circuits inside each module: 3 signals from the ECU to control sparks to 3 cylinders (these go to the transistor base terminals), 3 output signals to the coils (collector terminals) and 1 common ground for all 3 transistors (emitter terminals).

Beside piping (coolant hoses) failure, water leak can possibly come from a cracked coolant bottle or from the coolant bottle overflow tube if the system is not pressurized enough!

Bob thanks for that correction.

 

[76Alfetta]

Thanks, I'll clean these (2) module connections and go track down that water leak this week-end.

 

[Del]

Those darn module connectors seem to be a problem with many 94-95's, as they are in the stream of dirt and water blowing around the left side of the radiator. When they get dirty inside they can cause intermittent ignition outages and stalling even at speed. Quite disturbing. Seems to be a familiar ailment on these 94-95's.

They must be cleaned thoroughly with electronics spray cleaner and swabs, and dielectric grease applied very liberally inside to seal them from the elements.

 

[76Alfetta]

looks like the water leak is coming from the heater core itself so no easy fix for now.

I heard some light rattling at low rpms when the motor is cold and found the timing belt idler/tensioner arm to be the culprit. The bearing is new but the mechanism is not. Can these be lubricated? I assume it maintains the tension set by the alfa mechnic that set up the new timing belt for me.

 

[Alfisto Steve]

looks like the water leak is coming from the heater core itself so no easy fix for now.

I heard some light rattling at low rpms when the motor is cold and found the timing belt idler/tensioner arm to be the culprit. The bearing is new but the mechanism is not. Can these be lubricated? I assume it maintains the tension set by the alfa mechnic that set up the new timing belt for me.

Not sure a little rattling and timing belt idler/tensioner arm have much in common and how you would know arm causing problem as it is hidden under timing belt cover.

But if so you would need to have to pull off timing belt cover, detension belt, pull arm off pivot pin, hone crud out of bushing, lube, etc....

Are you sure you are not referring to serpertine belt tensioner arm outside timing belt cover that drives warer pump and acccessories? If so you probably need to retension belt as once tensioned lever arm is locked down.

As for water leak how do you know it is heater core is coolant smell ****pit or is fluid leaking into ****pit? If coolant leak coming from behind false firewall then maybe coolant hose going to heater core but heater core if leaking usually ends up inside car.

If leak coming from in front of false firewall then a heater hose at coolant tank or at rear head connection if coolant tank not cracked maybe causing leak.

Are you a checkbook or hands on mech?

 

[BlackAlfa]

The 24V has pivoting brackets at both the timing belt tensioner and the serpentine belt tensioner. Are you referring these as arms? Anyway, both of these are low at the engine and hard to tell how well they work. Did you use a mechanic stethoscope or long screwdriver to verify that's where the rattling/noise is coming from (careful with moving parts when doing this)?

Anyway, if no service had been done to car for awhile, the two pivoting brackets (timing and serpentine belts) should be taken out, cleaned and re-lubricated (as Steve mentioned) - use Kry(ptonite-Bo)tox if you can get some else Lithium/Molybdenum grease should work fine. I would suggest putting in new timing belt tensioner bearing and timing belt idler bearings (two) every other timing belt change (60K-80K intervals if not more often) since this is a critical application and you don't really want them to fail. The used 24V idler bearings (if they still feel good) can be used to substitute the 12V serpentine belt idler pulley!

 

[76Alfetta]

Thanks. I'm a hands on mechanic who pretty much does everything. I'm new to the 164 maintenance however.

I' going to try and track down the water leak first. It looks like it's a bit crowded with the wiper mechanism right over the hoses where they connect to the heater core so I assume I have to remove some items to really get to it all and find the leak.