Hello everyone I have a 1999 3.8 5spd camaro. Yesterday I was driving down the interstate and I noticed the car was getting hotter than it usually does. It go up to around the 3rd notch on the temperture gauge ~240. As soon as I noticed it it went back down to its normal temperture which is right around 200.

I continued driving it because it stayed at the normal operating range. I got about 5 miles from my house and it started getting hot again. This time it barely nudged over the 3rd notch. probably got around 250-260 this time. So I pull over on the side of the road. As soon as I pull over before I could even turn it off it goes back down to 200. I turn it off anyways and let it cool down for about 30-45 min.
I then take it the rest of the way home and it stays at 200.

When I pop the hood when I get home and start looking around I see the leak....

What is this leaking ?
How hard is it to fix ?
What am I looking at as far as price for parts and labor ?

The first picture is where the leak itself is. The second picture is just showing the water driping down.

 

Kinda hard to tell from that pic but I am going to guess it is either the water pump leaking or the little plastic bypass hose that connects to it. As far as how hard it is to replace, it depends on the tools you have and the time and patience. It is not that difficult but time consuming.

 

How can you tell if it is the waterpump itself or just the gasket ?
It looks to me as if it is leaking from the gasket...

Is there anyway, after you have the waterpump off to tell if it is the the waterpump or just the gasket ?

 

No real way of determining that unless you can see exactly where the water is coming from. With the water pump off, if there is any play in the internals at all, I would not trust it. If it is leaking around the gasket, then it would be a gasket leak. Most water pumps have a weap hole and when the bearings inside start to go bad, they leak out that hole. I personally would not replace the gasket without replacing the pump. The pumps are not that expensive considering all the work it will take to replace the gasket.

 

You would not what to do all that work and put a used water pump back in. Based on all the cars I have seen with a leak from like that you are looking at a 98% chance when you pull the pully off the water pump you will see a stain from the weep hole on the bottom side of the water pump. This hole is to let out any water that get by the seal. If I had guess I would say about 6-7 years is about all you get from a water pump. Unless it is a new install gesket leaks are very rare.

 

Yea, I know what you guys are saying. I will just change the waterpump and gasket when I change it tomorrow.

I have searched and read that it is an easy job, just alittle time consuming.
No one happens to have a walkthrough on this job do they ??
It seems if I have pictures of telling me what to do it is 100 times easier.

 

Invest 20 bucks in a service manual at the auto parts store when you go to get the parts. Those manuals have step by step instructions along with pictures and list of tools required to do the job. Basically, drain the coolant, loosen the water pump pulley bolt, remove serpentine belt, remove water pump pulley, detach the coolant hoses from the pump and remove the bolts that hold the water pump to the front of engine. Now that sounds easy but I believe it would be alot easier to do this job if you remove the plastic pieces that cover the radiator and connects to the throttle body, but, that's just me, you might be younger more flexible than I am!

Torque specs for the water pump bolts are 132 in lbs then step 2 is to turn them an additional 80 degrees.
Torque spec for the water pump pulley bolt is 115 in lbs.

 

When putting the new gasket on is any kind of sealent needed or is the gasket itself good enough ?

 

yes their is i forget what the stuff is called its a gasket sealer though and the way osduck makes it sound is really easy mine took 3 hrs but then again i have an 84 with tons of emissions stuff

 

I got it off in about 20 min, now I have to go get some gasket sealer....