Ok, so my car drops about 150rpm, the volt meter drops just barely into the red, I smell burning coolant, and I hear an awful wining sound. I parked, turned off the car and when to look to find it drooling coolant out from what appears to be coming from either the radiator or around the hoses. I thought maybe the water pump had gone but I can't see any leaking around the pump itself. Even so, its the stock pump, so why the volt drop? Its not electric. And if the radiator decided to spray, than what would cause all the other symptoms(volt, rpm drop, wining)?? Maybe its obvious, but I'm confused. Doesn't seem like it all fits. Any thoughts would be welcomed.
Trying to avoid paying someone $100+ just to "look".

2002 Z28, 5.7L LS1, 121k+

 

probably the coolant leak/overflow splashed on or into the alternator (since its on the side of the overflow tank). shorted alternator, and made the cooked coolant smell.

after the alt drys out, it may be fine; but you need to find the source of the coolant loss.

pull the belt, and check if all the pullies spin freely and w/o noises. Then do a pressure test on the cooling system and see if you can find the leak.

If that doesn't turn up anything, I'd pull the battery and check the overflow tank for damage, cracks.

and if that doesn't help, start diagnosing a bad headgasket which overflowed the cooling system.

plus, if they are all original; replace all the hoses just on general principal.

 

Thx for the check list. I'll run through those and see what turns up.

 

Sounds like you got coolant on your belt. Even a small amount of coolant on the belt and it will slip - belt slip can cause a burning odor, noise, and voltage drop. No mention of belt condition? Do all the pullies spin freely? These are things that should have been checked already...

Water pump failures on these engines are very common. Radiator/hose failures are not.

 

Good catch, forgot about coolant spray onto the belt itself.