car has 108,000 miles, water pump has never been replaced.

I was in traffic last night (40 degree weather) and steam started comming out from under the hood. The temp gauge still said the car was not over heating. So once traffic started moving, I noticed my power stearing had stopped working. Once I got to about 2-3 mph it came back though. I pulled over and called my dad and he came and traded vehicles and took my car home. Are these symptoms of a bad water pump?

 

^^

could it just be a leak? My dad was able to drive the car home fine with no problems.... I dont think he could drive ti if the water pump had went bad.

 

well jack up your front end and see if its leaking onto your opti.

 

That thing about the power steerign not working is probably because the waterpump gave out and started to spew out of the wheep hole. It happened to me, thankful i was in a parking garage and about to park.

But to check just turn the car on and wait for a bit, the fans should turn on without the car being hot at all (mine didn't even get to 170 mark). Then water will start pouring from under the waterpump. Thats when you turn it off and order the Meizere

 

CSI is cheaper.

 

Well I went out and checked, and I noticed the bleeder screw close to the intake elbow was about a full turn loose for some reason... the intake elbow had some coolant on it. I dunno if this is where it was leaking from last night. Maybe this coolant somehow made it to the power steering box? I also let the car run for about 8 minutes after I tightened the screw, and nothing leaked. the temp even got up to about 220-230, im guessing because I lost so much coolant last night, and I still didnt see the water pump leak anything.