I recently bought a 01 firebird trans am. was doing some maintenance on it. basic stuff, tune up, serpentine belt, break flush, and a coolant flush. I didn't notice any leakage in the car, and neither did any mechanics before. Last week when i did all these basic maintenance i went back to check up on one more thing. The mechanic raised my car up and asked when I'm replacing my water pump.Seeing that it was leaking...but the liquid wasn't green, more or less brown and it didn't have any particular smell, but its not coming from the oil pan. What I'm thinking is that maybe the hoses were completely tightened? All help would be appreciated! thank you!
Check your coolant levels. Take a drive and let the engine get warm enough for the thermostat to open. This is easily checked by grabbing the upper radiator hose that comes from the thermostat housing. Be careful because it will be really warm. (Most thermostats open at 165 to 185 degrees.) If that is warm, great. With the car running, while parked on a clean surface where you can see if there's a drip, look under the car. Any dripping? Water pumps will more often show that they are gone without making any real noise. They have a weep hole, a place where when the seals goes, it lets water drip out and this is obvious. Water coming from there will be obvious. If there's not a slow or steady stream of water coming out, then it's likely NOT to be the water pump. Turn the engine off and look for wet spots. Is there water around the radiator cap? Is there water around any of the hose connections. Are there any bulges in the hoses? If nothing is really obvious, go to the auto parts store and buy Bars Leak radiator sealant. When you get home, drain half a gallon or so of water from the radiator. Shake the Bar leaks really well and pour it into the radiator. Go for a drive. Drive for 5 minutes, get the engine heat up and drive home. Any minor leak, even at the hose bib, in the radiator, or in the water jacket will be fixed. This stuff has a guarantee so if it doesn't work, go get your money back. You're looking at spending under 10 bucks, by the way.
you can try to see if the pump is working before you start after it has been sitting ...make sure it is NOT HOT take the radiator cap off start the car and let it run when it warms up the water will start to circulate through the radiator you can see it with the cap off if the is then the pump is working ... check hoses again to make sure they are tight keep an I on your gauge if it starts to get hot it might be the pump or the thermostat itself if in doubt take it another mechanic and get a second opinion
Usually when a water pump goes bad,it either makes an obnoxious noise from bad bearings or you'll notice coolant seeping or dripping from the little weep hole on it.Seems like it didn't get flushed properly or the brown colored coolant you're noticing was there already before you done work on it.Pressure wash the engine to make things easier to see.Seems like the car would be overheating a little if the pump was completely gone out.Its a good idea to replace things like this on higher mileage cars to avoid bein stranded on the side of the road
G.M. uses Dexcool and it's a orange reddish color. If not flushed at manufacturer recommended intervals it can wreak havoc on the cooling system as well as having the ability to eat water pump gaskets and restrict cooling system passages. There's alot of class action law suits regarding the dreaded Dexcool. Usually however when the waterpump goes you'll hear a roaring type sound when the engine is running as well as there would be some play in the waterpump shaft contributing to the sound it might make. If it doesn't leak from the gasket then it will be froim the weep hole on the bottom of the pump that let's go over time. Have the cooling system pressure tested so you can pin point where it's leaking instead of guessing and wasting money throwing parts at it, Good luck and hope this helps.
First step is to check all fluid levels. Was the coolant level low? Want to know if the water pump is leaking then do a cooling system pressure test; it will tell you if the engine has any external leak, including the water pump, a majority of the time the pressurized coolant will leak out at the Weep hole at the water pump or gasket. When you open the radiator cap to perform a cooling system pressure test the look at the coolant or whatever inside and see if that Liquid is the same color of the Suspected liquid that you think is leaking. You can buy a flushing cooling system kit and the cleaning chemical at any auto part store and see if you can clean out the cooling system. It'll depend on how much Rusty the liquid look like, you may have to do it several times. Replace with proper mixture of coolant/ Antifreeze. HTH.
