ok so here's my problem. I have engine coolant leaking from my car. It appears to be leaking from the front of the engine. I haven't really gotten a very clear look at where its leaking from part of the reason is because its really cluttered in front of the engine. my car doesn't seem to have any problems with over heating but i do have to keep adding water. Also it really only leaks shortly after the car has been running and possibly while its running. If the car has been sitting for longer than 30 min it usually doesn't leak. I'm going to crawl under my car tomorrow to see if i can get a better look at where it is leaking out of. I was just wondering if anyone had and tips or could steer me in the right direction before i start pulling off belts and pullys because this leak is driving me nuts and i dont know whats causing it..

btw i drive a '93 z28

 

I had a hairline crack in the radiator at the filler cap. It wouldn't leak unless it was warm. It took me a while to finally track that one down.

 

Check the water pump's weep hole.

 

what is a weep hole? and what about it am i checking? and if its leaking what does that mean, and how do i fix it?

 

You are looking for dripping coolant. The water pump housing has a couple holes in the bottom of it, that will leak coolant when the pump seals fail. That's just one of numerous possibilities.

Before you start thinking about how to fix a leaking water pump, you need to narrow it down to the actual source of the leakage. There is no substitute for letting the engine run to reach full operating temperature, then going over the front of the engine, all the coolant hoses, and the radiator looking for leaking coolant. You have to look from the top, and you have to look from the bottom. It should be easy to find, because there should not be any wet coolant unless there is a leak.

We can offer dozens of suggestions, but until you actually take the time to look it over carefully, its sort of pointless.

 

its definitely the water pump, it is now officially gushing out water

anyone have a link to any nice write ups on how to swap out a water pump on a '93 z28

 

http://tinyurl.com/2c639qn

That's probably the best write-up I've seen on it. It's actually for an opti replacement but it covers the water pump removal as well. If your water pump is gushing out the weep hole, you'll probably need to replace the opti (or at the very least it would be a good idea to inspect it by pulling the cap off). Are you having any startability/driveability problems at all? Familiarize yourself with failing opti symptoms...if you have any I'd replace it too.

 

i would say my car seems to be running pretty good. some how i guess i just have gotten lucky this far.v its really only been losing a lot of water for like less than a day or 2, for a while it was just a slow and steady drip. when i pull the water pump off I guess I will take a towel and try to wipe down my optispark and make sure its very dry.

 

can someone tell me how to get the thermostat out of the old water pump without destroying it?

 

it just pulls right out after you remove the water neck. Is it stuck?

 

ya it was stuck but the rubber looked like it was comming apart so i just took back my old water pump and got a new thermostat. now just reassembling everything and i decided to use a blue rtv instead of a regular gasket. I'm kinda just waiting a few minutes for it to harden before i torque the bolts down really hard. this job was a serious pain in the neck. perfect day to work on the car when its raining and im out in the driveway.

 

No RTV or gasket is needed, just the thermostat's O-ring.

 

the water pump came with a gasketb but i bought rtv and used that instead. I hope it made a good seal im about to test it in a few minutes.

 

So you didn't use a gasket, just rtv? Supposed to rtv both sides of the gaskets it comes with...

...never mind, just reread, thought you meant you didn't use the water pump gaskets...

 

i didn't know you were suppose to use rtv with a paper gasket. either way what ever i did sucks because i just got done taking my car for a drive and its still leaking. I guess its comming from behind the water pump because its not leaking out of the weep hole. it says on the rtv tube that you only have to put rtv on one surface and clean the mating surface and leave it bare.