Hello,

my girlfriend just called me because her 2001 Ford Ka (44kw Endura engine) was leaking steam/water.

I immediately thought about cracked hoses / radiator leak (it's 44 C° here today) or a head gasket failure, and went there for help, but what I found was really strange...!

The main gasket seems OK (no overheating and/or bubbles/smoke in the reservoir), and radiator and hoses are OK.

There is a water leak from a gasket behind the engine block, right by the fuel injector gasket.

See attached photos.

It's not steam, it's just water squirting out, and increases with accelerating the engine. It does is even with engine completely cold!

What can it be? I didn't even know that engine had a water line back there...!

thanks

That is a new one on me, I haven't a clue but maybe someone else does, just not seen this thread yet

Sent via the 'Clacks'

GNU STP

Seeing it today in daylight, i believe it might be the intake manifold or its gasket. I didn't even know water circulates in the intake manifold too... is that correct? Water was leaking around the upper red arrow in the image. I temporarily put some hi-temp epoxy on the spot in order to drive her car home (and the sealing worked!), and by the time I arrived, water had found another way and was coming out near the lower arrow....

Any experience with a broken/deformed intake manifold with water leaking, or its gaket?

I have the same problem but can't work it out 

I don’t have much experience on modern cars eg newer than 1980s but in my experience it was normal to have coolant going through inlet manifold. First thing I would do is check if bolts tight, if not, and you do them up it might just fix it, but unlikely as water coming out has probably eroded the gasket. It probably needs taking apart and cleaning up and new gasket. And keep your fingers crossed the surfaces are not pitted/ corroded