What did you do to your WH/XH today?

[Mr_TT-89]

So bit the bullet and got an Optima D27F finally, got my old battery tested and was only putting out 500CCA thing was old dying and a shit brand, even the instant cranking and overall feel is much better, call it placebo or not i highly recomend these things and not to pricey either!

[Windex]

Originally Posted by slippery

Is the leak from the waterpump or thermostat housing?

I'm not sure, looking closely it could actually be the thermostat housing but how the hell does that fail randomly!!!!

[ren0vator]

Never been inside a HEMI, but most engine designers put
a weep hole for the water pump at the bottom of the snout.

This means if you can detect stain only below the water pump,
then replacement of pump is your first and best bet.
If you can detect a stain above the pump, then it's either the
thermostat or something more annoying deeper in the valley.

Alloy parts fail all the time from heat cycling, electrolysis and cavitation.

[Windex]

Originally Posted by ren0vator

Never been inside a HEMI, but most engine designers put
a weep hole for the water pump at the bottom of the snout.

This means if you can detect stain only below the water pump,
then replacement of pump is your first and best bet.
If you can detect a stain above the pump, then it's either the
thermostat or something more annoying deeper in the valley.

Alloy parts fail all the time from heat cycling, electrolysis and cavitation.

Thanks for the tip mate! I think I've found the culprit (or at least another area that needs looking into).

[Hanna]

Originally Posted by Mr_TT-89

So bit the bullet and got an Optima D27F finally, got my old battery tested and was only putting out 500CCA thing was old dying and a shit brand, even the instant cranking and overall feel is much better, call it placebo or not i highly recomend these things and not to pricey either!

I managed to get a D27M into my CRD Commander, which has been great so far. With the D27M being the Marine version it has the benefit of the twin terminals for connecting a second battery or other accessories, however the downside is that the terminals are reversed from the D27F, so it is a very tight stretch to get the battery leads to reach over to the other side.

It is doable though.

[Windex]

Worked in the engine bay for a change!

I pulled out the water pump outlet to find that the rubber seal on the thermostat had started to dissolve along with the other rubber parts of the thermostat. I suspect that it might have had sealant holding it on previously and the outlet was well gunked up and has been quite corroded, along with a pretty tired, but still functioning, thermostat.

I cleaned up the seat that the thermostat sits in (water pump side) and it was all 100% intact just ran a file gently around it to remove any old rubber / sealant. Finished product of the outlet is pictured below, I got a paper gasket (Dayco DTG9) that was the right size and put a small amount of RTV only on the outlet side to fill the pitting and she is all sealed up and no more drips on the floor!



I went with a slightly cooler thermostat (190F) after reading some folks recommending this on the early Hemi's to try and avoid valve retainer issues.

[slippery]

Nice work windex!

These things are notoriously tricky to seal again if you don't buy a new thermostat housing.