Big D's Z28

I bought my 1st Camaro, a 2001 Z28 back a few months ago. It had 40k miles on it and I have no idea what kind of life it had before me since I bought it on ebayfrom a dealer. The car runs great and I have not had any problems until a couple of months ago I started to smell antifreeze after I put it away in the garage. Nothing on the floor. I changed the radiator cap but the problem was still there. I looked under the car earlier and It looks like it is leaking from where the water pump mounts to the engine block on the drivers side. It starts leaking when I start the car and slows down and stops as it warms up.

My questions are:
1. Is this a common problem?

2. Should I change the water pump if it is only leaking from the mounting surface?

3. It looks pretty straightforward to remove it, is it a simple thing to do and what kind of time is involved, on average?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

black01_WS6

iTrader: (13)

I would go ahead and change it. I have never heard of this problem, could be just the gasket going bad. I would check that first.

Big D's Z28

Is it as easy as it looks to change out?

scifone

are all the bolts tight? i would definatly check that before replacing anything

Big D's Z28

Yes all the bolts are tight. A new pump is 150, so I was checking everything before I ripped it apart.

JBIRD02

iTrader: (4)

thats what happened to mine, started to leave a drop or 2 every now and then on the garage floor, always smelled like antifreeze. It only took a couple of weeks to go out totally. It was an easy replacement, took about an hour, no problem.

dailydriver

When I replaced mine (it actually locked up/froze at 78K), I did not even have to take the fan shroud/assembly out completely. Simple job, just be sure gaskets & everything else is lined up right (you DO NOT want to cross thread any of this!!) and follow the torque settings in the factory manual.

Big D's Z28

What did you have to remove to get the w/p out, aside from the drive belt?