3.4L water pump or something more?
 

Hi everyone,

I've got a coolant leak on my 3.4, and it seems to be the water pump. I've got a couple of pictures of the area.

Drips down when running, then when the radiator fan kicks in it does more than that (streams). Is this likely just a water pump leak, or something else behind there?

Could be the pump gasket or the timing chain cover. You should be able to tell once you get it a part. I would do the water pump either way since you in there.

looks like a bad water pump gasket. cant say for sure. front cover is right there too, not sure if there is a coolant passage there.

lol, took to long to post,,,

Ok. Car had the timing chain cover done about a decade (but only about 20,000 miles) ago, so hopefully it's not that again.

Figured the pump should just be replaced.

Edit: New question. Where should I get a new pump? Far as I knew, you want to buy OEM. But I've read that ACDelco water pumps now can be from China or somewhere else. Can I even get an original quality pump? Gates, GMB, whatever the auto stores are selling make me nervous and I'm worried something like this isn't going to be any better.

I've got the old pump off. Any tips on how to make sure it's just the pump/gasket vs. the timing chain cover leaking?

Well pressure tester or dye would be the normal way to verify it. Since it already a part hopefully you can see missing pieces of gasket.

agree should be some indicator that the pump gasket was leaking. may not be that easy to see. probly best to install new pump now and see what happens.

I had some dye in the coolant, I'll have to check again but didn't really see any residue except the area I took the picture (first post).

Of course I'm just afraid of doing all this work replacing the pump and gasket, only to get it back together and have it be something else.