I'm about 90% sure my water pump just died, but I want to make sure before I go out there and try to replace it. When I turn the car on, coolant starts leaking fast onto the ground, right underneath the crank hub. It's getting on the belt, and the belt is spraying it all over the engine bay, but I can also see it pooling on the top of the water pump and on my intake elbow. I'm also hearing some weird noises, kind of hard to describe, but if the pump is dying, would that be normal?

I'm just trying to get some second opinions here, I need to replace this soon because I have to use my car this week. Does this sound about right to anyone else?

 

A hole in a hose could spray coolant everywhere, too. You're going to have to look a little harder.

 

If it's a hole in the hose, will it be pretty obvious, or will I need to check the hoses with the engine running? Meaning if I just go out there and look, will i be able to see coolant leaking out with the engine off?

Sorry if this sounds stupid, but I've never had to deal with this problem before.

 

start the car up and LOOK real good at where exactly it is coming from, like shoebox said it could be coming from a few places

 

I started the car up and got under it while it was running. On this picture:

http://shbox.com/1/temp_sensor1.jpg

In Shoebox's caption "Engine coolant temperature sensor", notice the black area right below the "s" in "sensor". When the car was running, coolant streamed out of that hole (not a drip, a stream). I believe I read somewhere that the pump has a weep hole, so I'm assuming that's what I'm looking at. It didn't look like coolant was coming from anywhere else; like I said earlier, it's dripping on the belt, which is then flinging it all over the engine bay.

So is it pretty safe to assume this is a dead water pump? Also, I have zero time to replace this pump this week, so I'm thinking about taking it to a mechanic. Would it be OK for me to drive it a little ways to get to the shop?

 

If it is coming out the weep hole (and not dripping down the pump from somewhere else), you need a new pump. Mine leaked off and on for a long time before I replaced it.

 

Get an electric pump since you are replacing it.

 

Hi

My 97 Z28 water pump blew out a couple of years ago. Like one reply said, there is a weep hole at the bottom of the pump. You can see this much easier when it's off the car. Mine spewed coolant from the weep hole. I replaced mine myself, but I do have a factory service manual. Nothing too tricky, just a lot of things to remove to get to the pump. If anyone can explain an electric water pump on an LT1 to me, I'd appreciate it. This pump is gear driven off the camshaft. Really simple, once you see it. Just a splined coupling connecting two gears. One gear is on the back of the water pump. The other protrudes from the timing cover, and the coupling connects them.
Let me know if you would like me to scan the relevant pages from the manual and email them to you.

roadgod