Hello,

The other day I noticed my coolant light came on. Level was down, so I filled it back up. Then, a few days later, one of the heater hoses going into the water pump gets a pinhole leak and sprays coolant everywhere. I fixed that and then went to start up the car. Except now it seems my water pump is dead. There is (a little) moisture around the weep hole. How can I tell if my water pump is dead for sure?

After re-filling the radiator, I ran the car with the radiator cap off, expecting the level of the coolant to drop when the engine turned on. Instead it just started slowly rising

Even if the water pump was bad, would the level rise? Or do I have other problems? (No coolant in oil or oil in coolant)

Thank you,
Adam

ps. I tried a search, and thats how I found out about the weep hole and other stuff. But the rising water level really has me wondering.

 

Even if the water pump is bad the pump will still opperate. But if you have water out the weep hole I would say it is time to replace

 

Did you bleed the syst? The camaro's have a specific procedure. could be some of your problem???

 

If you watch the coolant in the radiator, when the thermostat opens, you should be able to see the coolant circulate. If you reach over and give it a little throttle, you should see more flow out the cooling tubes, dumping into the side tank. That should tell you if the pump is actually pumping.

I can't say that I have really heard anyone complain of the pump not pumping (except dead electric ones). The warning signs of dripping out the weep hole are usually heeded first and people get the pump changed out.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I'll try to let it warm up some more this time. I though I had reached 180*, but the coolant was about to overflow the radiator so i had to put the cap back on.

 

Well, i got most of the hoses and the cooling fans out of the way. I found out that they had the wrong type of thermostat in there!

Anyways, it looks as if I can get to all six of the bolts without removing the crank pulley and serpentine belt. Do I really need to remove these things? Any other tips?

Thanks
Adam