Water pump leaking i think

[phenomic]

I have a 97 z28 camaro and i believe my water pump is leaking. I believe it is my water pump but not 100% sure. Its on the drivers side and coolant lines run to it and it doesnt appear like much else is going to it besides some electic cables and an accessory wheel i think.

I havent seen it leak in action but i keep finding little puddles every now and then underneath it. I could be wrong too because its leaked in different spots and im not sure its even coolant but looks like it. It seems that some liquid leaks into the wire looms and slowly moves around and drops in different spots.

How do i find out if its leaking and if it is, is there anything i can do to stop it without hurting my cooling efficiency or anything else.

My car runs at 170* and i keep checking the levels on everything and everything looks intact. I did a dexcool flush about 3000 miles ago.

 

[Marlin]

If you see a leak, 9 time out of 10 it will be the water pump.

Go to autozone and get a pressure tester. It is in their loan a tool program. Buy some dye. Then pressurize the system and look for leak.

 

[Ray H]

What does the dripped fluid look and smell like? Ethylene glycol has a pleasant, mildly "sweet" odor - not at all "petroleum-ish". Any brand of DEX-COOL would be orange colored. Zerex G-05 would be a nearly colorless amber, though the DaimlerChrysler version is orange, too, and Ford's is yellow from what I've read. Old and the newly reformulated "Extended Life" Prestone would be green. It's been a long time since I've owned an American V8, but the water pumps on the various Ford, Chrysler, and GM engines I have owned had their water pumps mounted squarely at center front, above the crankshaft pulley. The inlet to the pump body casting attached to the bottom radiator hose. The cast outlets mated through the sealing gasket squarely to each cylinder head. The fan, either mounted directly or through a thermostatically controlled fluid coupling clutch, mounted directly to the water pump's drive pulley. If none of this sounds familiar to your situation, then ya' got me and, either you're not looking at the water pump, or GM's gone to some sort of off-mounted, perhaps even electrically-driven water pump on their pony cars that I've never come across (entirely possible...). Are you absolutely certain the lines you described aren't associated with the power steering pump, the AC compressor, or some other accessory?

 

[phenomic]

Well, something is dripping up high very slowly and it gets on the outside of all my radiator lines and steering lines and a whole bunch of stuff and every now and then they overflow and make some drops. Its a minor leak but i cant figure it out. I've smelled it and i cant even tell the color. Its not oil for sure, its either orange or clear i cant really tell. I cant tell the difference in smell from my power steering and the dexcool from the drops because they are soo small. I checked both levels and they still seem to be ok. Oil is fine, Actually to think about it it might even be trans fluid but that seems to be fine too.

I don't know much about my cooling system so i think its from this one unit that may be the pump. Ill talk to some people and get some more info.

 

[phenomic]

I got the low coolant light today so im 100% sure it is a coolant leak. I only had a short ride home and the temps stayed normal. I filled it back up with water (shouldnt be far from 5050 for now because i had a little bit more dex cool last fill).

I think its a minute leak so i think ill have trouble finding it no matter what. Say my water pump is bad, can i take it apart and rebuild it or do i need a brand new one?

 

[Neil Womack]

Many water pumps telegraph their failure with a small leak. You might be able to rebuild your water pump. However, even if possible its hardly worth the trouble.

The automotive water pumps I've seen are not really designed with rebuild in mind. ie; Lots of machine shop time needed to renew the bearing surfaces.

Before I forget a small piece of advise. When replacing your water pump its a good time to replace your thermostat. Replace with a fail open (fail-safe) designed thermo. I read once that most engines die due to cooling system failure. And a significant number (don't remember how significant) of the failures were due to thermostat failing in the closed position.

[ December 04, 2004, 07:22 AM: Message edited by: Neil Womack ]

 

[454MAG]

There Is a small weep hole in the bottom of your water pump. It leaks very slowly onto the optispark distributor and wipes that out almost instantly causing the problems in your other post. You must replace the water pump and opti. It is not difficult but very time consuming. You have to pull the harmonic balancer, air pump, electric fans, air box, coil, ignition module, IAT sensor, and a bunch of hoses and wires. I just did mine the other night. It took about 5 hours being very careful and methodical. Parts were around 500 bucks. I also did plugs and wires at the same time. The last time I had a shop do this for me at 160k miles they charged me 800 parts and 500 labor. Let me know if I can help.
Ted

 

[kenw]

Hold the phone...the water pump weep hole is right above the Hi-V electronics?????

what genius designed this?

 

[labman]

quote:

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Originally posted by kenw:
Hold the phone...the water pump weep hole is right above the Hi-V electronics?????

what genius designed this?

---

-
Great point!

 

[454MAG]

This idiot did much better than just putting the weep hole above the distributor. for 93-94 they made this dist non vented with a foam gasket that coolant would soak through and condense on the optical trigger wheel rendering the unit inoperable. They slightly improved it with a vent line to the intake mankifold for 95-97 which made little difference in the real world. Typical GM they took what was one of the best engines ever designed and pulled one bonehead move. The optical distributor actually is very reliable in other applications just not under the water pump duuuhhh. BTW this small block chevy produced 275hp 325lbs torque, got 26 mpg hwy and went 100k miles btwn tune ups. Pretty impressive. Mine has 205 k miles and has not had the valve covers off yet. The original 4l60e is still going strong also. The first opti lasted to 160k miles the second only lasted to 200k. If you have a gm dealer replace the part it will be covered for life.

 

[kenw]

back to the question, or at least one of them:

"Say my water pump is bad, can i take it apart and rebuild it or do i need a brand new one? "

Not repairable by most of us mere mortals....
a remanufactured one with a good warranty would be my choice.

 

[454MAG]

As far as a rebuilt water pump --No Way
A new pump from gm is around 150 an optispark is over 400. If your 80 dollar rebuilt pump dies and twipes out a $400 opti did you save money ???? even if the water pump had a lifetime warranty you lose.

 

[kenw]

rebuild for sure, never bought anything else but...

what's rebuilt? the bearing is replaced. The interior is cleaned and sealing surfaces refinished to spec. There's only 2 parts to reuse: the impeller and the housing. Basically the part that went bad (the bearing with seals) is replaced with a new one...

besides with a rebuild it's more likely a REAL person looked at it. Not so with new.

 

[phenomic]

Thanks for the help guys i really appreciate it. I picked up a good deal at autozone, a remanufactured water pump for 55$ came with gaskets and gasket sealer. I bought all new coolant (will 2 gallons 50/50 mix be good? I flushed it before but forgot) and a 180 thermostat.

The pump came with a 1 year warranty. Im gonna put the car back together and see how things go, if theres any problems, im gettin a delteq distributer.

I noticed a metal o ring when i took my pump off, it fell on the ground. I didn't see where it came from and i was wondering if anyone knows? I think it probably goes on the shaft between the pump and the engine, is this right?

 

[454MAG]

There is no metal o ring on the back of the pump. It was probably part of the seal that fell out. Good luck with that autozone reman pump. I am on my third autozone power steering pump in my F-250 in 1 year. BTW the Delteq relies on the optical portion of the optispark for pulse resolution signal. It only replaces the cap and rotor portion so you still need a good opti to use it. good luck