Castro

Hi all,

Just needed some advise. Sunday night when I got home I parked my z28 and saw a bit of smoke coming from the front I thought it was midst but then i heard a hissing so i carefully opened up the hood and saw a steady flow of coolant coming out of the bottom hole of my water pump. I think it probably dumped out about a cup maybe and I am pretty sure it came from that bottom hole on the pump. And it made that classic hissing sound of course as if the car were overheated...but the guages inside said temp was normal...

Now here is the thing I changed that pump I think about a 2 years ago. And since then have changed the coolant on the car twice at the jiffy place because the coolant on the car has always been dirty so yearly I have been trying to clean it out you know...

So what does everyone think? Has my waterpump gone bad again? Originally i changed it cause I noticed a small drop coming from the top hole so I was like its probably going out...

I think that pump has a lifetime from pep boys well I hope it does...sucks...anyone know why a water pump would just go bad? I know contamination plays a big factor.

IROC-T

I would say, yes your pump is going south,how long you have before it's completly gone depends on how you drive and the weather.
Why it went south,two words,Pep Boys!

Enough said.

Cal1C5Roc

Castro,
You say that you change your coolant periodically because it's dirty. That could mean your radiator is corroded. It could be rusting out your water pumps.

IROC-T,
Where in SoCal are you?

Castro

You know i got it at pep boys cause it had the lifetime guarantee...

thats the second piece of crap that goes on me...i think like 3 years or 2 actually i got an alternator from there too...it went bad on my to so i went back exchanged it and put the new one in.

For the future I am going avoid getting parts from there.

I have been driving the car a little harder lately on the highway 90 - 100 sometimes

Which store would u guy recommend to buy things from? The lifetime guarantee thing is great...what sucks is now i have to re paint the damn water pump black...damn!!!

Castro

Cal1C5Roc,

Ya the guy who use to own the z28 didn't take care of it the way I do my cars. First thing I saw was the coolant had never been changed 60 something k when I got the car.

I looked inside the radiator (i own 3 camaro's) and they all look the same inside...there is rust in all of those radiators nothign to the point where the fins are broken though.

I def think the contamination maybe playing a factor in the pump going out. But is it the radiator or inside internal engine?

Anyway of knowing?

IROC-T

Castro:
Rust in the block is probably a bigger problem than the radiator,I would try some kind of motor flush,a least twice,and maybe have it back flushed to get as much of that crap out as possible.

Cal1C5Roc:
I'm in the 909,San Bernardino area.

Castro

Whoops guys forgot to mention both times I have had the engine coolant flushed its been on the machine so all the coolant was completly flushed and new coolant put in. So I have done that twice so far. Maybe I should do it a third time?

I am left wondering is my car still driveable with the waterpump now? I mean I have not moved it since I parked it after it leaked out the coolant.

Are the holes in the waterpump like a safety valve? I am cursious as to what there purpose is...

IROC-T

The holes are called weep holes and they are kind of like a early warrning. You should be able to drive it,BUT keep a close eye on the coolant level ,and not just the overflow canister. Check the radiator when cool to be sure it full.

IROC-T

You might even try some block sealer to help seal the block from rusting,cast iron is a funny animal,once it starts rusting it's really hard to make it stop.

aklim

Check the radiator for cold spots with an infra red thermal gun. Use a dentist mirror to check what it looks like in the inside. BTW, what do you mean by "dirty"? Is there oil there or what?

90rocz

2 years from a replacement pump is pretty average, they are usually made out of the U.S. by the "lowest bidder"...
Check into a NAPA parts store if you have one, or just get a lifetime one and keep replacing them with "free" ones..

aklim

Actually, I had the stock water pump replaced because it was getting too old and I was rebuilding the engine anyways. Got and Edelbrock one that was supposed to send equal volume of water to both heads.

TinkerToy

The overheating problem you mentioned after you shut the engine off. That is when your engine gets the hottest because there is no water circulation and the heat is already stored in the engine. This transfers to the coolant which expands and causes pressure that will cause a leak at the point of least resistance...in this case...the water pump seal.

The Pep Boys pump was designed for use in everyday driving and not high performance. All the parts used in the pump were the cheapest available. You are going to have buy a high performance water pump (from NAPA, SUMMIT, ETC.) ...EDELBROCK makes one to keep from replacing this pump every 18-24 months and stand the chance to do damage to your engine.

Another inherent problem, when GM made the Camaro and Firebird, they did not install a radiator that is made to handle extreme conditions. A heavy duty option radiator may have been available as an extra cost option, but they usually don't mention this. The more hp your engine puts out the harder it is to cool. When you drive 90-100 mph, that far exceeds the designed cooling capacity. You can do this or short bursts, but then you need to slow down enough to let the air flow capacity going thru the radiator to remove the heat already manufactured.

You may want to go to an aftermarket aluminum radiator...this may solve a lot of your problems...they ain't cheap! But, consider the alternative of being stranded out in the middle of nowhere with a blown engine..........

aklim

Waht is the part number for this option?

Castro

Well I ended up changing the pump out this weekend. I actually checked my radiator and boy it was very very empty. So i changed the pump and refilled my coolant back.

I ended up buying a life time warranty pump at autozone. I should have just ordered a heavy duty one like Tinkertoy suggested.

Hey I know this has been asked like a bunch of times but still I see variations.

I want to see if my fan the primary one (I have 2) kicks on. How can I do this? I thought starting my car and turning on the AC would do it but yesterday I tried that and the fan didn't turn on. Does it matter that my AC doesn't cool? I think it needs to be recharged.