Okay guys, trying to help figure out a problem on my sisters Camaro. Love the car but it is testing her patience and checkbook.
Car history is as follows, maybe one of you has had a similar experience.

It keeps losing waterpumps currently losing #4, 1997 Anniversary Z28, 6sp, 55k. She is the second owner and bought the car with 28k, as soon she bought it, the car developed a leak from the waterpump, water coming out from the weep hole. I have a 92 Vette and I know that is not good since the OPTI is there and could spell trouble. The dealer changed the pump out under warrantee. This problem reared its ugly head again, a few weeks ago with 55k. My dad and I changed the pump, we got a (New) NAPA pump, and changed the gaskets, and all the hoses. Not more than 2 weeks or 500 miles, same problem, figured it was a bad pump, So we got the hang of it, dropped everything, and changed it out again. While we were there we swapped out the front oil seal, figured it was preventative maintance since we had a small leak coming off the front of the motor.

Well, its happening again, with a water coming out the weep hole of the water pump, and a similar oil leak from above the seal. So my question is what to do? Is there something causing the water pump to fail, (gear driven, warped housing) 55k is a bit early for the timing chain cover to be leaking, Correct. She doesn't race it, motor rarely sees redline. she is on borrowed time with the OPTI. I realize there is a lot of info thrown around. Car fax was not elected when the car was bought three years ago.

Any thoughts or past experiences are greatly appreciated, because she just bought new tires and had the clutch replaced 2k ago. Love the car, and would love to fix this chronic problem.

Thanks in advance
-Peter

 

My 97 has 90k miles and my third water pump went out three weeks ago. This time I replaced it with a Meziere electric pump and im very impressed with it so far. The stock water pumps are another junk part that was put on these cars. Not sure if theres anything you can do to prolong their life. Consider an electric pump.

 

Is this a GM unit?

Never use anything but.

Second, the driveshaft may be putting an unusual amount of pressure on the back of the waterpump.

 

Thanks for your reply, you're right its not a GM part, but it wasn't rebuilt either. I have been thinking of all the different things that might be forcing the failures and I looked at my chiltons manual. By looking at the pictures of water-pump gear it seems that they are not slash-cut and is located behind the cam-gear. so the idea of it thrusting into the water-pump might be a long shot.
still puzzled.

 

My experience is that the tolerances for aftermarket products are in most cases, far worse than OEM parts.

Get a GM waterpump, and forget about it.

 

Wondering if your engine stays hot while driving on the freeway,could be the radiator is going south,or a bad thermostat.Sounds like too much pressure is going to the water pump(weakest point on my car).Air in system?

 

Be sure that the drive gear is not wobbly and also the coupler. Put new o-rings on the splined shafts, so that the coupler will fit tightly. A dab of grease on the ends of the splined shafts is good, too. Though you have had a string of bad luck, I might be trying a GM pump, too.

 

Had a similiar problem when I had my '95 Z. For some reason, it didn't like the standard green coolant... have had better luck with orange dexcool and adding the "sealant" which the shop manual recommends. I assume you are running dexcool and have bled the system accordingly? LT1s are very sensitive to air in the system.

 

thanks for all of your relies. in doing some searching on the forum, I think I'll look carefully at the rubber O-rings, as well as the gasket on the timing chain cover. The posts that I read sound similar. I also have a 92 Vette, so I'm familar with bleeder screws. I feel after I remove this stuff for the 5th time, it should be the charm. I hope, thanks again for your replies

 

napa stuff sucks.. its all reman crap...

I'd defiently get a gm pump.. maybe new thermo.. flush n fill.. are the temps staying normal ??

 

yeah temps are fine, but I good flush I think would be in order, no overheating to speak of, like a stuck thermo or something.
the main issue has been the coolant leak and oil leak which started with the coolant leak, does that make sense.

 

Remember, there was a real GM replacement pump put on first by GM but that also failed.

I am having similiar problems, pump started grinding around 55k miles, now weeping at 65k. I am hoping to be able to determine what caused it to fail when I take it off the car. Depending on what I can determine I will go either electric or mechanical.

Oh, and the front oil leak, got that too. Had the rear intake seal redone by GM but its still leaks like crazy. These cars are a real pain.


UPDATE- I just noticed this thread was about a '97 30th ann like mine. Whelp, I certainly don't want to change the pump more than once so electric it is!

Hal
'97 30th ann.

 

I got 96K out of my original and am now at 148K total, so that is over 50K on a NAPA rebuilt. The b-body guys have had bad luck with the GM units, I mean multiple bad out of the box, maybe consider AutoZones lifetime warranty I think it is only $50-60. I have to wonder if there isn't some abrasive in the coolant or something, causing the failures.

 

Isn't there some coolant out there that isn't recommended for older systems? If so, maybe that is it.

Or are you using just water? If so, maybe it needs some lubrication properties.

Does it have the stock rad cap on? If it was rated too high, maybe the pressure in the system is causing a leak.