i have a 97 mercury mountaineer and i recently got the thermostat changed in it. after doing so we noticed that the car was leaking antifreeze. we checked to make sure everything was tight and there was no cracks and my uncle said he thinks its the water pump how can i tell
look at the water pump. do you see coolant? if everything is covered in coolant, clean it off with brake clean, then run it and look around the water pump again. It probably is the thermostat housing though. seeing as how they took that off recently. so look there too.
The radiator truthfully holds the water/coolant and the pump circulates the aggregate by way of the engine. Upon returning to the radiator, the water is cooled from air passing in direction of the fins of the radiator. The pumps job is to flow the aggregate to verify that the nice and cozy water to relax hence, the engine is then cooled.
Water pumps usually leak when they wear out. There is a weep hole on the bottom of it - you will see antifreeze coming out there. Another clue is overheating if the pump is not moving water.
if you cannot tell where the fluid is coming from, ...the pro's put dye in the fluid then use a black light and use gravity as the rule to find the leak. generally it is the seal that makes a water pump fail...which makes is leak out a weep hole. I think its a coincidence you changed the thermostat and the pump seal went out.
since the leak only occurred after thermostat change ? it is reasonable to assume it is leaking around the thermostat housing. check this area first . ( did we fit a new gasket ? etc) water pumps have a small hole on underside that will weep ( leak) when seals are worn and pump needs changing. we can check pump is working by observing coolant flow. with a cold engine remove coolant filler cap.start engine and rev a few times to around 3000-35000 rpm observing ( may need an assistant) coolant flow into expansion chamber ( where you removed filler cap from) you should note coolant flowing across or into the expansion tank. if our pump has failed we would over heat !! check engine cooling when driving.
