I have a 2000 Dodge Stratus and recently had the coolant drained (not quot;flushedquot;, as the mechanic wanted to charge $125 extra for that). Prior to that time I never had a single coolant leak, but since then, I've had the coolant leak out slowly over about a 2 week period of normal stop go traffic. Now the mechanic is saying the water pump is leaking, and that's going to be another $600+ more to fix (over 5 hrs of labor), which I really don't have the money for right now.So two questions.. 1) what could've happened to cause the water pump to suddenly start leaking only after the coolant was drained, when it was fine before that? and 2) should I try using a quot;Radiator Stop Leakproduct? I know people say they can plug up the whole radiator, but if that were the case 100% of the time, you'd think these products would've been made illegal a long time ago.SO realistically what are the chances of it doing more harm than good? I still plan on getting the water pump replaced, it'll just have to be awhile.
Stop leak does work in some cases but not for a water pump the leak is coming from the seal on the shaft as for it being $600 for a water pump? find another shop as for a pump from a salvage yard? no the seals are most likely dried out they drain the fluids when they salvage a car . what happened to cause the leak? chances are that when draining the old fluid from the system the fluid was thick from age and holding it togather this is common with cooling systems and transmissions as if u wait to long to change its fluid it will cause the transmission to fail. the pump may be 10yrs old time to replace (not for $600) stop leak while has its places wont work on a moving part (IE water pump shaft)
No that crap plugs other little water ways that are needed to cool your engine. Things get old and it don't take much for them to start leaking. Changing this is not that difficult I would check out a couple more shops before thinking that would be the cost. Stay away from the dealers they charge the most.
the pump will quickly wear out if its leaking, and on those stratus's the water pump is run on the timing belt, which makes it a long and expensive job to replace. I wouldn't use the stop leak, just carry around a few gallons of water and keep the coolant topped up. keep an eye on your temperature gauge while your driving.
Realistcally you have a 10 year old car, so your water pump has used up its life sorry. Stop leak products are usually a fine powdered aluminum/epoxy mix and NO they won't fix a water pump seal. Old stop leak products were actually better but used asbestos as a leak fix, so the government banned its use. My advice, is to shop around a bit for another price, as it does sound pretty steep. Sorry about your problem. Please remember anti freeze can go quickly, so don't risk an engine overheat at a bad time, carry 2 gallons of spare coolant
