symptoms of water pump failure

[CLABORN1960]

Okay folks,
I have read the archives on the water pump issue and haven't found what I am looking for. This morning with the hood up I started my car (93 ruby red coupe) and as it was running coolant was leaking from somewhere, but dropping down onto the serpentine belt and flung out over the left wheel. After about 5 minutes the leak stopped. I also hear a squeal of sorts, but I am not certain where it is coming from, other than it's coming from the front of the engine about where the water pump is I think. After driving for about 15 minutes the service engine soon light comes on.

My question. Is this the water pump going bad? If the water pump is replaced should the optispark also be replaced? Could it be something else?

 

[atmmac]

sounds like a water pump.

 

[Red69]

I am only familiar with C3's, but water pumps are similar. The squeel could be the bearing. After you shut off the engine, feel around and below the pump shaft. If it is wet there, your pump is shot. Look closely to the area with a flashlight, you might be able to see a anti-freeze stain on the engine paint. This would be the clincher indicating it has been leaking for some time. If your pump is bad, you don't want to run it more than you have to. The shaft could break and sent parts into your radiator. This could be very costly.

 

[Eagle85C4]

Use a mirror and look up under the front of the pump. There is a small hole in line with the shaft called a weep hole. When the seal for the shaft goes bad it will start leaking there. Very small at first but it will get worse.
The squealing you heard was probably the antifreeze on the belt allowing one of the accessories slip on the belt causing it to produce the squeal.
Finally, if you have an optispark type distributor, it does not like getting wet, and I have read on here that it is a good time to change it while you have the pump off. Let us know. take care Hiram.....

 

[CLABORN1960]

I did look at the engine area with the flash light this evening, and I did not see any indication of leakage, and it has not leaked any coolant on the ground underneath. Like I mentioned earlier, after the car warmed up the leak stopped... I was thinking maybe a hose or a seal somewhere might be the cause, in that, when it was cold it had contracted, and as the seal or hose warmed it closed off the leak... anyway....

I haven't looked at the heater core shut-off.... why would I want to shut it off by the way?

I am going to have a mechanic check it out tomorrow, even in Bama its a little cold to be crawling around under the car (for me anyway)...

 

[WEFs02]

It sounds like the pump is in the first stages of failure. If it is definitely narrowed down to the pump replace it fast before it dumps on the opti. When the pump is off is a good time to check the opti and also replace plug wires. I replaced the wires several months after replacing the pump and it would have been much easier when the pump was off.

 

[corvette66]

WP

Like EAGLE was saying, usning a mirror is the best way to check for leaks. I would fire it up, and get a small 3"-3" or so
mirror and look all aorund. 2 months ago my water pump went in my 86. For a while i couldn't seem to find wehere the leak was, I got a small mirror and sure enough it was leaking out of the little hole under the pump. As Eagle says a "weep" hole. I aslo had a leak in the very end of the heater core hose. right where it meets the water pump. It was leakin, runind down the pump and under the lower radiator hose. Looked like it was leaking out of the radiator hose , but with the aid of the mirror, helped me find that it was from the heatr core hose.
GOOD LUCK

 

[94C4]

The leak from the water pump is hard to figure out. My 94 had anti freeze all around the front of the engine, but I could never reaally see where it was coming from. I took it to Mr Goodwrench and had the pump replaced. $600 later no more leaks. The opti spakr has suffered no ill effects either. Good Luck.

 

[CLABORN1960]

update

Got the water pump replaced and it worked fine, no problems right up until....... the hose going from the pump to the heater core (i think) sprung a leak... more coolant all over the place..... so got to replace that now....

 

[RedRagTop]

Sorry to hear of your problems. Only had to do my air pump so far and fingers are crossed. How many miles did your pump go at? I guess that was the problem for sure, eh?
Damn, I sound Canadian sometimes...

 

[CLABORN1960]

I am not sure if it was the original water pump or not. The car has 131,000 on it. When I bought it 2 years ago it had 75,000 on the clock. So that may give you some idea...

 

[RedRagTop]

Mine is sitting right around the 75K miles mark now...

 

[scarbro2k]

I was going to say that if you haven't replaced the water pump
or the Optispark at 80K-90K miles you are on borrowed time
for both.
By all means replace the Optispark when you replace the
water pump. There are some pretty good technical articles
on how to do it. There is one I used to do a mod on my 94
Optispark to eliminate the "hard to start-moisture-in-the-
Optispark" problem. The mod updates the 92-94 Optispark
to a 95-96 Optispark. There are Optispark repair kits available at
most car parts stores now for $75 -$140. GM sells the Optispark for $350-$620. They also have the parts needed to do the mod on a 94 Optispark.
See these URL's for details:
http://www.fierolt1.com/lt1_95_up_OptiReplace.htm
http://para.noid.org/~muttvette/opti.html
http://www.charm.net/~mchaney/optisprk/optisprk.htm

Still a Happy 94 Vette owner!