Hey guys, while driving my car earlier today, I could smell that all to familiar scent of coolant, and noticed a trail of coolant from where I drove up the hill. The situation got worse when I got out of my car and saw a stream pooling around my car. I popped the hood and saw steam coming out of the "screens" just under the water pump, and it appeared that coolant had sprayed outward into the fan. 2 months ago I had this same coolant leak when it got extremely cold in my area. I was able to fix the problem with some Prestone radiator 'stop leak'. The problem existed no more, until today. I checked the passenger side floor board and it is dry. All hoses appear to be fine. From my description of the problem, does it sound like I need a new water pump? This car is my daily driver so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for any help.

Chris

 

If it matters, the car in question is my '92 Firebird (V6).

 

Any idea on this? Bad water pump? Bad heater core?

 

The heater core isn't under the water pump, so I think that can be safely ruled out.

Sounds to me like the water pump. I don't know what screens you're talking about, as I have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever about the 6-cyl motors; but if water is coming out of any part of the pump, regardless of what motor it is, the pump is shot.

 

Today I went outside and looked under the hood. There is a plug-in next to the water pump that looks like it has coolant around it, not sure if it leaked out there or what. Could anything else around the water pump be leaking, other than a hose?

 

The only other thing around the water pump, besides the pump itself and the hose, that contains coolant is the pump-to-block seal. See if there's a trail of coolant running down the front of the engine block around these holes.

The water pumps are designed to leak, gradually, when the bearings start to go bad. Sort of an early-warning sign to let you know that it needs replaced, before the pump goes entirely. There's typically a little "weep hole" somewhere on the casting that coolant drips out of. I have seen pumps that don't give any signs of warning, however.

 

Well, the problem's been fixed. It was the frost plug heater. Whoever installed it (a long time ago), over-tightened it, and broke one of the brackets that holds it tightly into the block, plus the rubber o-ring seal was shot, hence the coolant leaking badly, just couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from. I'm just glad it wasn't the water pump