Is it my water pump?!?!?

[BlackCobra50]

So I was walking to my car after driving to the store and noticed a puddle of water/antifreeze under my car... I drive home, jack it up and take a look.. It definiatley is leaking from somewhere. It's not the radiator, upper radiator hose, or lower radiator hose. I see antifreeze under the engine, I just cant see where it's leaking from... I'm GUESSING the water pump.. anyone think it could be anything else? I need this fixed ASAP... I start school in 5 days and need my car.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Win]

Look at the weep hole it will be right above the crank pulley if you see it dripping or coming out of there then you had a water pump going out. It is there to let you know it is about to go out.

 

[BlackCobra50]

Look at the weep hole it will be right above the crank pulley if you see it dripping or coming out of there then you had a water pump going out. It is there to let you know it is about to go out.

I just checked... I couldn't really see above the crank pulley, but I did see antifreeze around that area. How long could I drive it the way it is? What will happen if the water pump goes out? Could I still drive it or no?

 

[Win]

Well put it this way if you blow the water pump you will just pore coolant out of that weep hole and you maybe will make it 10 miles. I think i ran about 10 miles to work and 10 miles home but i had to put water in it before i left work and i had to stop once on the way home to fill it up. It sucks. It sounds like your Water pump is going out from the description you gave.

 

[topless95]

If you have coolant on top of the timing cover, you can be pretty sure it's your water pump.

 

[topless95]

Mustangs Unlimited has em brand new for $52.95
http://www.mustangsunlimited.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=M8501D50+01

 

[Win]

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=FMS-M-8501-D50&N=700+4294908331+4294908282+4294840126+4294924760+115&autoview=sku

sumit has some also it's a good pump

 

[BlackCobra50]

I had a feeling it was the water pump.... How hard is it to change it? Any tips?

 

[Win]

Pretty easy really. I would go ahead and flush the whole system while your at it. Pretty straight forward really. just take off the belt... take off the crank pulley rad hose return line and your coolant neck. be careful not to over torque the neck or you will crack it and have to go get another one and trust me the one at the parts stores do not work. Replace the thermo while your there with a 180 deg tstat but thats about it..... Oh yeah use antiseeze on all the bolts just in case you dont torque them properly. Get 2 water pump gaskets and 2 thermo housing gaskets so you have a back up set. And don't let your roomate torque the bolts or you will have a blown water pump and be pissed

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

And don't let your roomate torque the bolts or you will have a blown water pump and be pissed

haha. that's funny. My roomate used to have a 94 cobra, and couldn't figure out how to take the water pump pulley bolts off..
so i had to do it, and the whole job for him.
My experience with water pumps is pretty much what 95convgt said, only i would break the water pump pulley bolts loose while the belt
is still on (if you don't have air tools and you're doing it with hand tools like i did) then remove belt, thermostat housing w/ thermo., and water
pump. when you loosen the water pump bolts, try and leave them in their designated holes in your old w.p, that way when installing a new
one you know exactly where each bolt goes. Make sure all your gasket mating surfaces are very clean, and like already stated, flush
your cooling system when you get done.

 

[Win]

And don't let your roomate torque the bolts or you will have a blown water pump and be pissed

haha. that's funny. My roomate used to have a 94 cobra, and couldn't figure out how to take the water pump pulley bolts off..
so i had to do it, and the whole job for him.
My experience with water pumps is pretty much what 95convgt said, only i would break the water pump pulley bolts loose while the belt
is still on (if you don't have air tools and you're doing it with hand tools like i did) then remove belt, thermostat housing w/ thermo., and water
pump. when you loosen the water pump bolts, try and leave them in their designated holes in your old w.p, that way when installing a new
one you know exactly where each bolt goes. Make sure all your gasket mating surfaces are very clean, and like already stated, flush
your cooling system when you get done.

Yeah i forgot just break them loose then take your belt off

 

[CC'S95GT]

also get a piece of cardboard and draw an outline of the waterpump gasket on it, as you take each bolt out one at a time put it in the corresponding hole in the cardboard. the bolts are different lengths, don't get them mixed up or bad things will happen

 

[topless95]

also get a piece of cardboard and draw an outline of the waterpump gasket on it, as you take each bolt out one at a time put it in the corresponding hole in the cardboard. the bolts are different lengths, don't get them mixed up or bad things will happen

+1000000000000000000

 

[BlackCobra50]

Pretty easy really. I would go ahead and flush the whole system while your at it. Pretty straight forward really. just take off the belt... take off the crank pulley rad hose return line and your coolant neck. be careful not to over torque the neck or you will crack it and have to go get another one and trust me the one at the parts stores do not work. Replace the thermo while your there with a 180 deg tstat but thats about it..... Oh yeah use antiseeze on all the bolts just in case you dont torque them properly. Get 2 water pump gaskets and 2 thermo housing gaskets so you have a back up set. And don't let your roomate torque the bolts or you will have a blown water pump and be pissed

I'm changing the pump this weekend... how do u remove the crank pulley? and when u say flush the system, u mean just drain the radiator of the fluid or what?

 

[topless95]

-leave the belt on and loosen the water pump pulley bolts, but do not remove them.
-take the belt off
-finish removing the w/p pulley bolts and remove the pulley
-remove the two heater hoses and lower rad hose
-take the w/p out of the box and trace the outline and also the bolt holes(make actual holes in the box
-when you remove the bolts put them in the corresponding holes
-clean up the mating surface
-using a very thin bead of sealant on the w/p and the gasket(side that mates to the timing cover) and
let them tack up
-reinstall the w/p and most of my friends think I am nuts but I do torque them to the proper level
-reinstall the heater hoses
-reinstall the lower hose
-install w/p pulley
-install belt
-tighten w/p pulley bolts tight
-wait an hour or two
-fill with coolant
-check for leaks around gasket
-crank and get up to temp and recheck for leaks
-let cool and top off coolant

 

[topless95]

anyone chime in if I missed anything

 

[BlackCobra50]

-leave the belt on and loosen the water pump pulley bolts, but do not remove them.
-take the belt off
-finish removing the w/p pulley bolts and remove the pulley
-remove the two heater hoses and lower rad hose
-take the w/p out of the box and trace the outline and also the bolt holes(make actual holes in the box
-when you remove the bolts put them in the corresponding holes
-clean up the mating surface
-using a very thin bead of sealant on the w/p and the gasket(side that mates to the timing cover) and
let them tack up
-reinstall the w/p and most of my friends think I am nuts but I do torque them to the proper level
-reinstall the heater hoses
-reinstall the lower hose
-install w/p pulley
-install belt
-tighten w/p pulley bolts tight
-wait an hour or two
-fill with coolant
-check for leaks around gasket
-crank and get up to temp and recheck for leaks
-let cool and top off coolant

Very nice post! Only one question... I've heard that it's very easy to snap/break the water pump bolts. Is this true?

 

[topless95]

Not sure on the ease of snapping the bolts, but that is why I replace bolts,that don't look so good and then torque them

oh and I forgot to mention about using thread sealant on the bolts that go through the timing cover and into the block

 

[BlackCobra50]

Not sure on the ease of snapping the bolts, but that is why I replace bolts,that don't look so good and then torque them

oh and I forgot to mention about using thread sealant on the bolts that go through the timing cover and into the block

Where would I go to get new bolts for them?

 

[Paul]

Hardware store.