Blood type Z28

I noticed the other day my car was leaking coolant, when I got home it blew the coolant everywhere. I think it's the water pump gone bad. Is there anything I should look at replacing with the pump? My Camaro is a 97 Z28 with 69,xxx miles. Any advice would be great.

Injuneer

The water pump has a very small weep hole. That will not blow coolant everywhere. It would drip on the distributor, which is a whole 'nother problem.

If you can't see the source of the leak, do a system pressure test before assuming you need to replace the water pump.

moparman

If it blew coolant everywhere, I'd check all the hoses.

Blood type Z28

Sorry if this is a dumb question but how do I do the pressure test?

Injuneer

You borrow or rent a pressure tester from an auto parts store. The pressure tester is an air pump that tightens onto the flange where the radiator cap would normally attach. You pump up the pressure in the radiator to the pressure cap rating (18 psi for your LT1). and watch to see if the pressure drops over time. If the pressure drops, you need to start checking the hoses, radiator, water pump, heater core, etc. to find out where it's leaking.

Here's an example:

Blood type Z28

Thanks for your help, I'll check it out.