My water pump was leaking from the weeping hole so I went and bought a new one (not rebuilt) every thing came apart pretty good and went together well after some fustration with the alternator bracket. I put some gasket maker stuff on the gaskets to hold them in place while I put the pump to the block (very small dabs) and put some on the two lower bolts as I was told to do...bolted every thing up filled the system let it run and warm up then went for a quick run down the road about a 1/4 mile give or take...on the way down all was good but on the way back I started putting the gears to it and she let out a pile of white smoke, pulled in the yard and checked it out and the passengers side front of the motor was wet...is it possible it blew the water pump gasket out on that side? I couldn't get it to leak in the driveway and it was getting dark out so I couldn't go for another drive...what do you guy's think...is there anything I should do differently when I tear it down this time...what about gaskets and rtv seleant?

 

What do you mean by very small dabs? When I replaced my water pump, I put a thin line of sealant all the way around the gasket on both sides, no leaking.

 

I use nothing on the gaskets; however, I do swab the bolts with a bit of sealant. No problems.

JamesC

 

The dabs might have been as thick as paper...one of the gaskets actually fell off before I put the pump in place. I put some sealent on the two bottom bolts, but I doubt thats where the leak came from. It's odd that it only leaked at high rpm but sitting in the yard reving it by hand it wouldn't leak. The only thing to do is pull it off again and put some new gaskets back in, they did seem really thin now that I think about it. So should I put some sealant on them this time and let it set up before trying it? I will have some time this time cause while things were apart I wanted to paint some stuff so I will do it this time... Any pointers on the install?

 

If all vestiges of the old gasket was removed, if you used sealant on the bolts, and if you torqued appropriately, you shouldn't have a leak.

JamesC

 

Was the white smoke out the tailpipe? It's hard to imagine how a water pump gasket leak could cause this. I put a water pump in my 85 on Monday night and used my fingers to work a thin coating of RTV on both sides of the gaskets before putting them on and giving the bolts a generous coating. So far so good here.

 

I don't think so....couldn't tell really, but I know the front of the block down low by the pump was soaked...tearing into in like 10 mins to see whats what.

 

Well never mind about the leak...it's not antifreeze. I assumed it was, because it was in the area that I had just worked on. It's oil and I don't know where its comming from but I'm guessing ethier the timming cover or the fuel pump maybe...it seem's to be spraying out more the harder a push the car so I guess I'm gonna have to check that out over the week.