Habstract89

Hey, i just bought a 90 Camaro RS with 208000 mi on her and she ran great for the first like 5 months. Now she is having overheating issues at speed and idle. I constantly have to keep feeling her up. I did notice the other day that a weird smelling steam was coming from my water pump and apon closer investigation i noticed a pencil eraser size hole on top of the water pump. Any ideas on what this smell/ hole is or how it got there?

eseibel67

That would be the weep hole, and you need a new pump. Better do it right away to avoid risk of overheating.

torque_is_good

look

I know some people are into strange stuff but really? With a car?

Thirdgen89GTA

iTrader: (5)

I caught that spelling error too. Worth a chuckle!

The sweet smelling steam you have, is coolant, and you are leaking it because the internal seals on your water pump are failing, hence why the "weep hole" is weeping.

4 bolts, 2 gaskets, some swearing if you've never done it and you are done.

Might as well replace the thermostat anyways while you are at it, only a couple bucks and your hands will already be coated in coolant. Sucks when the stat goes, then you get no heat if its a failsafe model, or you REALLY overheat fast because it stops coolant flow from entering the radiator.

Also, a very nice tip. buy some high temp clear paint for engine parts and cover up the coolant holes then paint the water pump casing. If you clear coat the new water pump it'll look perfect and new for a long time.

Flightoficarus

What the others have said, you need a new water pump. Luckily, it's a pretty easy job to do on these cars, even if you've never changed one before. Plus they're pretty cheap too.

Pick up one of those serpentine belt removal tools to make life easy. Since you'll have stuff taken apart while doing this, it's also a good time to check your radiator hoses, and, as Thirdgen said, might as well replace the Thermostat while you're at it. Also check your radiator for any scale or rust in the coolant too, just in case you haven't already. Always a good idea to check everything out if one component is going bad IMO.

Thirdgen89GTA

iTrader: (5)

Just use a 3/8" ratchet. No special tool necessary.

travis401

iTrader: (1)

its 1/2" actually. i just use my 1/2" 3 ft breaker bar to remove mine.