My water pump is leaking near the top. Its fairly new as I was told by the previous owner. Would it be good to try to put RTV seal on the bolt or just replace the gasket? I only see it drip on 90+ Degree days and its constant.

95 3.4L

Jordan

 

does the 3.4L engine have those little plastic elbows between the WP and intake? Those are really common to leak on the 3.8L

Massey

 

I want to say yes, its often moist up there so I'll check.

 

Wow, weird it's leaking near the top. If it's constant then that part of the gasket blew out. It's better to replace the gasket completely. It's not too bad a job to replace the water pump. You don't need to take off the alternator or AC compressor.
Unbolt the coil pack assembly (3 bolts) Loosen the power steering pump (4 bolts in front, 2 in back) and move it aside, take off the tensioner pulley andf you can get to the water pump! While you're at it I'd change the thermostat since you have to take off the upper rad hose for room. Don't buy a new gasket, use the black silicone gasket maker. Once you put it back on let it sit for 4 hours or overnight before putting coolant back in. Also, get the AC Delco sealing tabs and drop 2 of them in the rad.

 

The 3.4 does *not* have any plastic elbows at all. What it does have is a narrow, long timing cover gasket with lots of holes. If the engine has a lot of miles you should pull the timing cover and replace th4e gasket at water pump time.
At the ery least you should clamp the timing cover to the block with a big washer and bolt *before* you loosen all the water pump bolts. You're keeping the timing cover in contact with the block to avoid breaking the gaskte seal. This info appears on a sheet of paper that comes with the Fel-Pro water pump gasket kit.
If the PO had the water pump done and the timing cover wasn't held against the block you mayhave a problem.
That plus the fact that you should use pipe thread sealant with Teflon on all the pump-to-block bolts. Some of the bolts thread right into the coolant jacket.

 

Just wanted to update this. I found where its leaking and its the bolt right above the tensioner. Should I try the pipe thread sealant and teflon tape for now and see if that works? I don't have a helping pair of hands at the moment to change the pump.

 

Take the bolt out and see how much of a leak you have. 1augapfel that's good advice. I re-sealed my timing cover last weekend.