Coolant Leak HELP! Water Pump?
 

Hey guys I'm having a coolant leak and I think its from the water pump or the water pump gasket. When I have the car just sitting and not running it dosn't leak at all, but once I warm up the car it start to leak from the I think water pump area above the pulley. I see a small stream of water coming from that area and I end up losing around 32 oz of coolant I would think. I have to refill the coolant after I used the car. So it seems like its leaking from the water pump or from the water pump gasket, can somone confirm this?
Also if it is the water pump how would I replace it? What steps are involved in replacing it? Thanks
~alan

its hard to see where the leak is without some disassembly. by removing a couple of components you should be able to see evidence of leaking.

just did my water pump a couple of weeks ago. its an easy repair. remove hoses, belts, a couple of wires, and the intercooler, loosen adjusting bracket for power steering pump, remove thermo housing, remove water pump.

my leak started after replacing all hoses, bellts, ast, and radiator. the leak was from the shaft seal area (hole just below the shaft).

i also did the thermostat at the same time. note re: thermostat, there is a little movable pin on the face of the thermostat, be sure that this is at the 12 oclock position when reassembling.

i believe that with the heat and pressure that these engines generate it would behoove you to eliminate any potential weak links in the cooling system including hose clamps. i also came back after a couple of days of running and tightened up hose clamps and checked nuts and bolt torque.

when tightening the belts you can check tension using deflection distances. air cond power steering belt .18 -.20". alternator air pump belt .28-.29". check the deflection at the point where 2 belts visually intersect (looking straight on from front of car). apparently proper tensioning is very important because over tensioning will trash the water pump bearing.

hope this helps you. it took me 2 - 3 hours or so working at a leisurely pace.

chuck

When the bearings in the water pump begin to wear they dribble water out by design. There is a small hole on the underside of the pump called the weep hole. When the bearings wear water makes its way through the inner bearing and then dribbles out this hole and down the front of the motor. To be certain get in there close with a light and see if the water pump is wet on the bottom just behind the pulley. If so, time for a new waterpump.

Thanks guys, it is leaking from the front of the engine, I'll look at it more closely, but I think its the water pump. Does anyone have a writeup of how to change the waterpump? I'm not too sure on what the deflection distances are, and I want to get my belts to the right spec so nuthing else goes wrong.