It wasn't a blown head gasket

[gbarrett]

I pulled the intake - no evidence of a leak.
I pulled the heads - same thing.
I pulled the water pump - there's a bunch of small holes behind the water pump shooting water into the block!!!

I guess the holes were "etched" in from bad water or something. I found another timing cover at a boneyard. Any suggestions or concerns I need to be aware of? I hope to put it all back together tomorrow.

Thanks,

Greg

[Slippery]

Those holes may have been "etched" in by pump cavitation...tiny air bubbles will "blast" away at it like glass beads!

Or it may have just deteriorated...

[Gladi8r]

When installing a used timing cover, check for wear behind the pump to see if the metal is thin. I had a problem with a timing cover that was removed from a Wag with a bad bearing in the water pump and it actually scraped the cover so bad that the metal was wore thin. had it tig welded and ground smooth and worked like a champ.

[Crazy_Jeepman]

Be sure to check the oil pump in your replacement cover. Wow on the problem, glad it was this easy, could have been real bad. Good luck :cool:

[irbob]

gbarrett...exact thing happened to my wagon and I did the same thing you did to try to find the problem. After having the intake and heads checked I talked to a Mech friend of mine and he said right off the bat that the timing cover had holes in it. Guess it's another common thing.

Sure enough it had three holes in it. Cost 50 bucks to have it heliarched.

Antifreze and aluminum don't mix. If an engine has aluminum parts in it like out FSJ's do you need to add a conditioner. Can't remember what the name of it is but NAPA has it.