2013 1.8L coolant leak by timing belt tensioner

[willgerrelli99]

Good Morning,

So I haven't been able to find much on this so I'm hoping to get some answers here. I was going to do the timing belt and tensioner on my 2013 Sonic with the 1.8 and when I pulled the tensioner off I noticed some coolant around the backside of the tensioner, see attached. I've only been able to find 2 similar instances online and they seemed to say it was either an external head gasket leak or a front cover leaking. I find it hard to believe it's a front cover just based on what I can tell form the design and am leaning toward an external head gasket leak.

I was wondering if anyone has ever seen something like this and what it ended up being as well as if there is a good way to see whether it's the head gasket or front cover?

Thanks

 

[willgerrelli99]

I should also note that the coolant has never been low and that I never saw and external leak of any kind. I haven't yet put a pressure tester on it.

 

[SuperS13]

So...looking at your pics, definitely looks like your water pump was starting to leak around the water pump pulley snout and was getting into your timing cover...my water pump did the same exact thing on my 1.8L sonic. What it is when you get around 100k ish miles your water pump has a good chance to leak slightly either around the seal base or the water pump pulley snout. Clean everything up and make sure to use either an Acdelco professional series or Gates water pump with premium seal...also use coolant type RTV sealant and make a 1/16" dia bead on the water pump base slap on the gasket and use 10-14in lbs torque sequence the water pump bolts.