coolant dripping from under car...waterpump?

1995blacktattop · 07-02-2009, 10:16 PM

i was just backing my car into the garage and i see a trail of fluid and i checked with a paper towel and its orange so i'm pretty sure its dex cool. i can see the puddle where it was dripping and it looks like its right in front of the water pump. i hope its not the weep hole dripping. it didn't look like it was dripping on the optispark. it stopped about 10 mins or so after i shut the car off. i have a new radiator and i thought i had all new hoses. the waterpump has ~ 50k miles (it was supposedly replaced at 75k mi)
any ideas what else would cause this. the car didn't run warmer than normal nor was it smoking or anything like that.

95zpro · 07-02-2009, 10:22 PM

Definitely check the weep hole on your opti, it sounds like unfortunately the bearing is going out.

shbox · 07-02-2009, 11:17 PM

Check it right after you drive while there is still pressure in the system (or use a pressure tester). With a leak, it's going to stop after 10 min or whenever the pressure is gone.

1995blacktattop · 07-02-2009, 11:38 PM

well it's definately coolant because the radiator was a little low when i just checked it now. any idea how much a waterpump costs to have changed?

shbox · 07-02-2009, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1995blacktattop

well it's definately coolant because the radiator was a little low when i just checked it now. any idea how much a waterpump costs to have changed?

Labor is free, if you do it yourself. Taking it to a shop, I would expect you might pay $400-$800. My price guess may be inaccurate as my car never goes to a shop.

1995blacktattop · 07-03-2009, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shbox

Labor is free, if you do it yourself. Taking it to a shop, I would expect you might pay $400-$800. My price guess may be inaccurate as my car never goes to a shop.

I'm not mechanically inclined though. i've done things like put on my ram air box or fix a headlight motor but nothing engine related. i was there when my friend swapped the cap and rotor though. I'm hoping its just a hose or something like that. maybe the thermostat.

1995blacktattop · 07-03-2009, 06:48 PM

just an update, it was the waterpump. $541.xx and i'm all good now. the pump was ~ $250 plus gaskets. the original quote i got this morning from a different shop (who was affiliated with the shop that did it but didn't have the time to do it today) was over $700 because they said a new pump would have been over $400!

luckily carquest sells new units for $250. oh and a 3800 V6 pump is only $84. they quoted the price for the V8 parts and then accidently sent over V6 parts so that had to come back with the right waterpump and gaskets. he also said it didn't look like the opti got wet at all. i wonder if the MSD cap/rotor is slightly narrower than the factory cap

Badazz 97 TA · 07-03-2009, 08:35 PM

hahahahha $541 dollars! your crazy dude.

The weep hole is slightly in front of the opti. i dont know why everyone says its directly over it. If they would actually LOOK they might notice that. if it does drip it will drip down the front where it wont affect anything. Again i dont understand why everyone freaks out over the weep hole leaking a little. no big deal

speed_demon24 · 07-03-2009, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Badazz 97 TA

hahahahha $541 dollars! your crazy dude.

The weep hole is slightly in front of the opti. i dont know why everyone says its directly over it. If they would actually LOOK they might notice that. if it does drip it will drip down the front where it wont affect anything. Again i dont understand why everyone freaks out over the weep hole leaking a little. no big deal

They must be scared to drive their cars in the rain too.

My opti gets soaked in the rain so I have no idea why everyone freaks out over a weephole dripping on the opti.

1995blacktattop · 07-03-2009, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Badazz 97 TA

hahahahha $541 dollars! your crazy dude.

The weep hole is slightly in front of the opti. i dont know why everyone says its directly over it. If they would actually LOOK they might notice that. if it does drip it will drip down the front where it wont affect anything. Again i dont understand why everyone freaks out over the weep hole leaking a little. no big deal

thats the going rate i guess. i kind of wish i still lived close to a friend in AZ who changed my cap and rotor in 2006 for $100. at least it wasnt the $700+ i was originally quoted with the $400 waterpump

RamAir95TA · 07-03-2009, 09:30 PM

That's insane. You could have saved $400 by doing it yourself. Changing a waterpump on these cars is relatively routine.

1995blacktattop · 07-03-2009, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RamAir95TA

That's insane. You could have saved $400 by doing it yourself. Changing a waterpump on these cars is relatively routine.

maybe $300, but the part was $240.

MattSapp95_T/A · 07-04-2009, 12:01 AM

Could have gotten an electric water pump for 150 and it would never leak again and you would have picked up some Hp.....

1995blacktattop · 07-04-2009, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattSapp95_T/A

Could have gotten an electric water pump for 150 and it would never leak again and you would have picked up some Hp.....

i thought about that but didn't know where the shop could have gotten one or whether or not they would install one. plus isn't it true that the electric waterpumps don't give you any warning whatsoever when they fail?

I8ASaleen · 07-04-2009, 10:33 AM

If you're not mechanically inclined I would not recommend doing an EWP. It is far more involved than you might think.

1995blacktattop · 07-04-2009, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by I8ASaleen

If you're not mechanically inclined I would not recommend doing an EWP. It is far more involved than you might think.

yeah i'm not too good with engine stuff. i can do some stuff like headlight motors and interior stuff (i did most of my seat removal/recovery except for putting the upholstery on the front seats) and i also put in my car's mp3 deck.

I know i paid more than if i would have attempted it myself but i figured i'd rather not screw up my car and end up blowing the engine due to overheating or something if i installed the waterpump wrong. FWIW the car did NOT overheat at all when the pump was leaking. the radiator only dropped to around 3/4.

shbox · 07-04-2009, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1995blacktattop

i thought about that but didn't know where the shop could have gotten one or whether or not they would install one. plus isn't it true that the electric waterpumps don't give you any warning whatsoever when they fail?

That's about right (unless you put in warning circuitry to tell you when it is not running). I like the mechanical pump for a daily driver.

SS RRR · 07-04-2009, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1995blacktattop

i kind of wish i still lived close to a friend in AZ who changed my cap and rotor in 2006 for $100.

Your friends charged you to work on your car? Those don't sound like friends to me!

Seriously, something like that it is easily accessible and can be done even by novice mechanics. The only tricky part is getting the waterpump bolt behind the power steering pulley and with that I have always used a wobble extension.

Makes life so much easier.
The other tricky part is scraping all gasket material off the block. Easiest for me is using a razor blade scraper. After you've successfully completed the project you'll feel real good. Especially when you know it works!

1995blacktattop · 07-04-2009, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shbox

That's about right (unless you put in warning circuitry to tell you when it is not running). I like the mechanical pump for a daily driver.

my car isn't a DD but i would hate to have one just go out on me. mine gave me enough warning (never overheated or anything) in the sense that it dripped from the weephole enough that i knew something was wrong and was able to fill the coolant up and drive it to a repair shop.

camar0corey · 07-05-2009, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speed_demon24

They must be scared to drive their cars in the rain too.

My opti gets soaked in the rain so I have no idea why everyone freaks out over a weephole dripping on the opti.

Gotta love those FL drenching rains, some of the backroads I had to take to get to PHCC drained horribly, I've had standing water fly up over the car, still no opti issues. I've replaced one opti in the almost 6 years I've owned the car.