Water pump dripy dripy

[Ian]

So the other day my dad goes "your car is leaking oil" and i was like "i know, its a few drips from the rear main seal" and he was like "nah, this is a lot".

During the flyers game last night, he goes "look at the driveway" and i look outside and there is a huge spot in the driveway.

TO make a long story short, i finally track the leak down to coolant, and it was the water pump gasket it looked like. So i pulled the pump off, scraped the gasket on teh block and pump, and used some RTV to make a new one. Slapped that bad boy on, and tried it out today, and it worked fine.

Anyone else have the water pump gasket fail? It looked like the coolant was coming from a bolt on the pump, or the bottom of the gasket, i couldnt quite tell. Anyone?

[Christian]

I think I'm leaking oil too from the main seal, any advice on fixing that?

[Ian]

just leave it until it gets bad. Its one of those things that unless you are mechanically inclined to drop the tranny and remove the clutch yourself, itll cost you like $400 to have fixed. Its a $5 part with $395 worth of labor. Unless its real bad, just leave it.


BTW, if anyone cares, you cant fix a water pump with just RTV. I think the seal that seals the pump impeller was shot on mine, so i just bought a brand new pump. So we'll give this a shot.

wish me luck, ill post results later.....

[Christian]

Thanks man, good luck on that, I replaced mine about a year ago and no problems yet. You may as well paint it before you put it in, that's what ya boy did

[camaroincal]

Originally posted by Ian:
So the other day my dad goes "your car is leaking oil" and i was like "i know, its a few drips from the rear main seal" and he was like "nah, this is a lot".

During the flyers game last night, he goes "look at the driveway" and i look outside and there is a huge spot in the driveway.

TO make a long story short, i finally track the leak down to coolant, and it was the water pump gasket it looked like. So i pulled the pump off, scraped the gasket on teh block and pump, and used some RTV to make a new one. Slapped that bad boy on, and tried it out today, and it worked fine.

Anyone else have the water pump gasket fail? It looked like the coolant was coming from a bolt on the pump, or the bottom of the gasket, i couldnt quite tell. Anyone?

My water pump was leaking as your's was. Took it to a mechanic to a get a new one. Turns out after he installed the new water pump he ran some tests and determined I had a cracked head or bad head gasket. Turned out to be a cracked head and it's costing me $2,178. [img]graemlins/rock.gif[/img]

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

Originally posted by camaroincal:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Ian:
So the other day my dad goes "your car is leaking oil" and i was like "i know, its a few drips from the rear main seal" and he was like "nah, this is a lot".

During the flyers game last night, he goes "look at the driveway" and i look outside and there is a huge spot in the driveway.

TO make a long story short, i finally track the leak down to coolant, and it was the water pump gasket it looked like. So i pulled the pump off, scraped the gasket on teh block and pump, and used some RTV to make a new one. Slapped that bad boy on, and tried it out today, and it worked fine.

Anyone else have the water pump gasket fail? It looked like the coolant was coming from a bolt on the pump, or the bottom of the gasket, i couldnt quite tell. Anyone?

My water pump was leaking as your's was. Took it to a mechanic to a get a new one. Turns out after he installed the new water pump he ran some tests and determined I had a cracked head or bad head gasket. Turned out to be a cracked head and it's costing me $2,178. [img]graemlins/rock.gif[/img] </font>[/QUOTE]dont scare the poor guy lol [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[camaroincal]

haha. I know but it's exactly what my water pump was doing.

[Distephano]

Originally posted by camaroincal:
haha. I know but it's exactly what my water pump was doing.

You cracked a Head because your water pump was leaking???

Do you not watch your temp gauge?

A cracked head is NOT a direct result of a dripping water pump. If the water pump was in back enough shape that water was not moving and the car's temp went WAY to high, you could have cracked a head / blown a head gasket. You should have had an idiot light come on long before something like that happened though.

[chas]

if you go as far as to replace the water pump gasket you migth as well just replace the water pump as well. they are fairly cheap and prone to failure. just be sure to buy a quality rebuilt unit.

[Ian]

Got a brand new Bosch OEM water pump today w/ gasket, slapped it on, and bingo, no leak. I think the seal that seals the shaft on my old pump went on it, so thats what caused the leak.

I didnt want to go rebuilt so i just got a new one.

Thanks for the responses.


BTW, its really sad when its quicker to do a water pump than it is to change your plugs. Took me about half an hour to take the old pump off and put the new one on, and it takes me like an hour and a half to do plugs. lol. stupid engineering at its best...... [img]smile.gif[/img]

[HeadyFirebird'00]

Mt water pump has been replaced in my firebird. and its a 2000. kinda crappy

[camaroincal]

Originally posted by Distephano:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by camaroincal:
haha. I know but it's exactly what my water pump was doing.

You cracked a Head because your water pump was leaking???

Do you not watch your temp gauge?

A cracked head is NOT a direct result of a dripping water pump. If the water pump was in back enough shape that water was not moving and the car's temp went WAY to high, you could have cracked a head / blown a head gasket. You should have had an idiot light come on long before something like that happened though. </font>[/QUOTE]Woah boy calm down now lol. [img]tongue.gif[/img] All the info is here so please read it. Thanks. :rolleyes:

http://www.camarov6.com/cgi-bin/ulti...;f=16;t=002417

[Dan Vincent]

Camaroincal: You got taken for a ride. Always start with the cheap stuff first - water pump and a radiator flush are dirt cheap compared to paying 2/3 the price of an LS1. Had you truly blown a head gasket/cracked a head, you would have known it afterwards by watching your temp gauge. Your mechanic could have mistaken clogged up dex-cool for mixed oil/coolant, but come on - you should checked the heads to see if they were REALLY cracked and if your oil wasn't milky... no mixing of fluids going on there. On something that will cost you that much money, making sure you actually need the work is tantamount. If it turned out that you needed it, no harm no foul. If you didn't, there's $2k less in the red.

When I had the valve body issue on my tranny, a less scrupulous guy wanted $300 to tear my xmission apart, most likely to tell me I needed a rebuild. No thanks, I went to a good tranny shop and they took care of me. Never underestimate the value of a second opinion. Being an informed driver (not necessarily a do-it-yourselfer, just knowing how the car works) will help make sure you don't get taken advantage of in the mechanic's garage.

I would say Camaroincal's issue is a rarity - a leaky water pump on the 93-97s is fairly common (if you had an LT1, it would be right above your Optispark, causing lots of fun stuff to happen and much more $$$). Don't need to raise "sky is falling" alarms just yet. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Anyway, my water pump died on my 3.8, I saw green coolant on the ground on a snowy day and knew the pump was shot. Had it changed, things have been great since.

[camaroincal]

Originally posted by Dan Vincent:
Camaroincal: You got taken for a ride. Always start with the cheap stuff first - water pump and a radiator flush are dirt cheap compared to paying 2/3 the price of an LS1. Had you truly blown a head gasket/cracked a head, you would have known it afterwards by watching your temp gauge. Your mechanic could have mistaken clogged up dex-cool for mixed oil/coolant, but come on - you should checked the heads to see if they were REALLY cracked and if your oil wasn't milky... no mixing of fluids going on there. On something that will cost you that much money, making sure you actually need the work is tantamount. If it turned out that you needed it, no harm no foul. If you didn't, there's $2k less in the red.

When I had the valve body issue on my tranny, a less scrupulous guy wanted $300 to tear my xmission apart, most likely to tell me I needed a rebuild. No thanks, I went to a good tranny shop and they took care of me. Never underestimate the value of a second opinion. Being an informed driver (not necessarily a do-it-yourselfer, just knowing how the car works) will help make sure you don't get taken advantage of in the mechanic's garage.

I would say Camaroincal's issue is a rarity - a leaky water pump on the 93-97s is fairly common (if you had an LT1, it would be right above your Optispark, causing lots of fun stuff to happen and much more $$$). Don't need to raise "sky is falling" alarms just yet. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Anyway, my water pump died on my 3.8, I saw green coolant on the ground on a snowy day and knew the pump was shot. Had it changed, things have been great since.

Ok well I have left something out. I went to the mechanic the day he informed me of the possible blown head gasket/or cracked head. I went there because I had bought a set of tires at a another shop and they were waiting for me to bring the car to install them. See, the day before I changed the oil and bought the tires, I did not know the severity of the problem.

I asked the mechanic if it was ok...and he seemed a bit unsure if I should drive the car. But I told him it was just down the road so I go ahead and take the car.

So anyway, as I was driving to the tire place, the temp gauge starting going up abnormally..up to about 230 when I finally got there and turned the car off. I made sure to tell the guys there not to drive the car any more than needed becasue of the issues it was having. On the way back from the tire place as I was approaching the mechanic, the temp gauge started soaring up to the 240 range so as I was cruisin about 40 mph and only 1/10 of a mile from the shop, I turned the car off and just coasted in. Sorry for leaving that out of the main topic.

[camaroincal]

And anyone else who replies, could you please refrain from insulting me...i.e. "you got ripped off etc" I know it's easy to pop in a topic and see me saying " it's going to cost $2,200...etc etc. and just jump in and act like your so smart by saying I made a bad judgement because I am trusting someone I believe is trustworthy.