Water pump Leaking

[brianbee]

Hi Guys just noticed over the holidays that my car is leaking coolant, its at the stage that i have to fill the radiator every morning.It only needs about 1/2 a litre of water, when i searched for the leak it looked to be leaking from behind the harmonic balancer but after having a better look at it tonight it appears to be leaking from a gasket above it (is this the water pump ). Now the car drives fine no overheating the temp gauge rises up to halfway etc if i get stuck at the lights but then go's back to normal after.Ive checked the radiator upon arriving at home and the radiator will be low but not bone dry. Now does this sound like the water pump (i dont even no where it is situated, a friend told me it is likely it) and is it still safe to drive till it gets fixed and what sort of $$$ will it cost. Thanks for your advice..

[vr94ss]

The water pump has a drain hole that let's water out in case the seal goes bad so the water doesn't destroy the bearings. You can use a small mirror to see. The water usually runs down the pump and from there down the front of the motor to behind the harmonic balancer. It may be safe to get to somewhere to fix or last months just topping up, but I would fix it ASAP. Cost? Dunno.. V6 or V8?

[jestah]

sounds like ur water pump not to difficult nor expensive ring around or get a mate to do it i think i paid about 70 bucks for mine and took me about 30- 40 minutes to do behind the harmonic balancer black thing in the middle sorta shaped like a boat

[justbad4you]

Hi Guys just noticed over the holidays that my car is leaking coolant, its at the stage that i have to fill the radiator every morning.It only needs about 1/2 a litre of water, when i searched for the leak it looked to be leaking from behind the harmonic balancer but after having a better look at it tonight it appears to be leaking from a gasket above it (is this the water pump ). Now the car drives fine no overheating the temp gauge rises up to halfway etc if i get stuck at the lights but then go's back to normal after.Ive checked the radiator upon arriving at home and the radiator will be low but not bone dry. Now does this sound like the water pump (i dont even no where it is situated, a friend told me it is likely it) and is it still safe to drive till it gets fixed and what sort of $$$ will it cost. Thanks for your advice..

i put a new water pump on my old v6 ute.....2days later leaking again??? took it to a mate and he took out the water pump bolts and gave the threads a good clean,put em back on and 2 weeks later it was leaking again......3rd and last time he put some kind of sealent on the bolt threads and it never leaked again....

[Hangman]

Could also be the timing cover, I've had one corrode where the water bores are and it looks like it's the water pump leaking. Water pump has to come off either way so remove that first then have a look.

This was on a v6.

[deanos70]

might as well replace your coolant as well if it hasnt been done lately and your thermostat
i always clean the threads up before i put the bolts back in and normally smear a small amount of grease on them to stop them rusting in there

a water pump for a v6 should cost no more than $50 - $70
put some sealant around the gasket as well
make sure before you take the drive belt off you loosen the bolts holding your water pump pulley on first

[vicious01]

my water pump went, the leak was visable from the drain hole as vr94ss said, easy to fix takes very little time 5 bolts from memory and under $100.

[brianbee]

Thanks for the advice guys, i dont think im to mechanically minded to fix it myself have it booked in this week at the mechanics to get fixed ..Thanks

[EDGE3]

It could also be the thermostat housing gasket and the thermostat, I thought it was the water pump in my car but it turned out to be the thermostat gasket because the thermostat wasnt opening up.Bloody hell how many times did I write thermostat in this post.

[justbad4you]

Thanks for the advice guys, i dont think im to mechanically minded to fix it myself have it booked in this week at the mechanics to get fixed ..Thanks

are you in melb??? i can point you towards a good cheap holden mech if you down in melb.............

[brianbee]

No i live in adelaide. Where abouts is the thermostat situated, ill have a look at it, looked at another thread on changing the water pump and may try changing it myself. Is there anything i should be wary of, do the bolts need to be torqued and how hard is putting the belt on. I am barely a novice at anything mechanically as i say i dont even know where the thermostat is located..

[Hangman]

Where the top radiator hose joins the top of the motor is your thermostat housing. Thermostat lives under it.