I found some coolant on top of my water pump the other day. It was no more than a teaspoon, lol but it bothered me seeing it. It was on the driver side of the engine, and laying in one of the curves of the water pump.

Over a 5 day span, it actually was enough to drip down and leave about a .50 size of coolant on the garage floor.

This a 99 TA w/ about 39k miles on it. I am good on my coolant level, and the guage is always at one place-210. I heard the guages were inaccurate.

Anyone have an idea of what is going on?

Thanks!

 

I havent had this problem, yet my water pump has been off like 5 times. Go figure.

 

when a waterpump goes bad thers a tiny little hole that you cant see (go figure)until you take out the pump, its on the bottom part of the pump itself.If the waterpump is bad it will slowly leak out of that hole it can easily be splashed around by your fan and-or belts creating mabye umm little puddles

 

Mines alright as far as I know. Comin up on 54K miles. The thing with the gauge is frustrating though...I'm runnin a 160* stat and the little needle sits right @ 200*. Go figure.

 

The pump on my wife's 98 LS1 Formula just took a dump last month, with 78K miles on the odo. It spewed coolant and left her stranded across town, but a quick refill with water and I drove it home 5 miles without incident, other than leaving a trail of coolant the whole way.

Yea, the "weap hole" on the bottom of the front snout is there to let pressure out of the housing when the front water pump seal has gone bad. Coolant leaks past the failed front seal and exits the housing via the weep hole - to let you know its gone bad.

In my case, it didn't leak enough to leave a puddle and therefore give us a heads up that it was gone. Once I removed the housing, an obvious old crusty trail of coolant was visible near the front snout.

The water pump install was very painless and easy, just not very cheap. The part was almost "LT1 expensive", but nowhere near as difficult to R&R. Retial price on the new waterpump from GM dealer was $280 [this was a month ago]. I shopped around and found a brand new pump at NAPA for $150. O-Reily and others were up to $180. Rebuilts were about $30 cheaper than what I paid, but not enough to justify going that route.

It is a simple part [one moving part], and not worth spending the extra $130 for a "Genuine GM Part", in my opinion. The house branded NAPA pump I used had higher quality gaskets, front pulley and overall casting than the factory unit I replaced.

To replace the water pump:
Remove the airbox, throttle body [easy], belt, top and bottom radiator hoses, 2 heater hoses, and the 6 bolts that connect the pump housing to the block. Scrape the old gasket material off the block with a razor blade or Scotchbrite pad on your air tool of choice [unless it has the newer re-usable gaskets] and swap on the new pump. Replace everything, then refill with coolant/water mix [use Dexcool rated coolant - aluminum safe and phosphate free!], burp the system of air [several times!] and you're done.

About 1 hour with air tools, 1.5 without. Can all be done from the top, so no need to even jack up the car.

You have to swap over the thermostat housing and tensioner puller to the new pump housing - its a BIG ***** of a housing because it holds all of this other stuff on it. Don't fall into the trap of throwing a "too cold" thermostat in there during the swap - the factory one really does work best for 90% of street applicaitons.

Cheers,

 

 

The reason why your gauge will almost always read 210 is because in the 99-02 cars, they were porgrammed to act like an idiot light, not actually giving an accurate temperature. Guess they had problems with the 98 cars gauges fluctuating too much for owner comfort.

 

Mine went out at 32,000 miles. Thank god for warrenty. It is a comman problem. Also the gauge is false for 99-00. I think 01-02 got the real ones again!!

 

Mine was replaced under warranty at about 59,000 miles.

 

my car always gets too hot if i dont leave the fan switch on, it'll start steamin under the hood and everything, i know that theres a 160stat in it should i put the stock back in or is somthin goin wrong with it?

 

Nope, all non 98 gauges are "fake". Mu buddys 01SS and 02 WS6 do the same as my 00.

 

This is the crap that scares me. I don't know how to tell if it is going bad or not

It has been setting since Sun. and I went down there this morning to drive it, and popped the hood. It had about a 1/2 a teaspoon of coolant in the same spot. That little crevice right below the driver's side head.

Here is my question, I hope someone can answer. Since it isn't leaking from underneath, could it be leaking from the intake area or something? There is a bolt right above it. Is it possible the bolt needs to be tightened? I have not had anything off this car, besides the belts, so I wouldn't know if anything was loose.

Could it be a gasket going bad???? I am so confused, and don't want to replace the WP if that is not the issue.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Sounds like you have a major problem.. Just make sure that thermo is opening.

Whoever says running a 160 thermo is bad, never actually worked in the high performance auto industry.

 

I said that, and I did work in the hi-perf auto industry, including custom EFI tuning on late model V8s. But no - I'm not claiming to be an engine guru. Ask an experienced engine machinist what he/she thinks about running oil at overly cold temps and its effect on clearances and engine longevity. I'm not one - I just trust the smarter machinists I know.

If a 160'F adds so much power, why not go to 130'F stat? Or 100'F?? Assuming your radiator/fan could keep the coolant to the lower running temperatures. At what point does running too cold coolant temps cause problems? People that have engine dynos have specific controls over coolant temps - and they are not super cold for a reason. 180-190'F engine temps and 250'F oil temps are common temps to run on race cars and street cars alike - asuming the engines were built to work at those temps/clearances.

Just because a lot of people do something the wrong way, doesn't make it right. Its not a big deal in any case - for "extra" power or decreased engine longevity. Let me stop there - I really don't want to argue this one, again. This subject has been beaten to death on the 'net and some people are going to always do this "160'F stat mod" regardless. People will also continue to buy crap like "JET" branded chips and the like, too, no matter how many ways you show them its crap. Bad aftermarket advice and parts are plentiful and popular to do.

==

Now for something completely different

Directions and pictures of an LS1 water pump swap. Yea, its an easy swap, but it can't hurt if you are a n00b to see how it's done.

LS1 Water Pump Install

cheers,

 

Depends on what vehical you are talking about. 5.0 EFI stangs dont like 160, makes them run rich.

You are making a blanket statement when in fact temp to make optimal power, or keep detonation from happening varies from motor to motor, setup to setup.

Ive ran a dyno and did quite a bit of testing with coolent temp for power. Have you?