knight_rider

Hey guys, I have a 2000 WS6 Trans Am, 6speed, car has just reached the 100k mark. A few days ago I noticed that my water pump was leaking but then for the past 3 days I've been checking the car after driving it and no leaks..even when I checked the radiator yesterday it was a little low so I fill it with about a cup of water and when I check it this morning before heading to work its not low anymore, any idea what could be happening? I had the water pump replaced about 3 yrs ago and when I saw the leak I was surprised because I thought it would/should last longer than that right? It did leak tho after going up and down some long hills here in Utah AND the weather was pretty hot that day so I'm not sure if that could've caused it to leak? Anyways, I'm kinda baffled by this as I have no idea if my water pump is going bad or if there was just air in my cooling system? Also my temp gauge is fine, it never went past the 210 mark (not sure if that gauge is accurate?) and the car never seemed to overheat. I just wanna make sure since I don't wanna end up on the side of the road somewhere...

knight_rider

Ok looks like I need to replace the water pump, just did a pressure test and sure enough it started leaking from the back side of the pump...this sucks, I don't understand how I just replaced it 3 yrs ago and now its starting to leak again?!

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Do you think the gasket could be bad or could the pump be loose?

Schnell

Water pump is a relatively simple repair.

knight_rider

I looked again and it was leaking from the pulley area...so its prbably a bad pump right?

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Yes, there is a weep hole behind the pulley that will leak as the seals start to go bad.

If your overflow bottle has fluid in it and you have fluid missing in the radiator, the seals are a little further gone and its definitely time for a new pump. (With bad seals, the pump can not only leak fluid out but pump air in to the system.)

Was the pump you replaced a reman?

knight_rider

Not sure if the pump I replaced it with before was a reman one, I thought I bought it new. I just bought a new one from Napa and replaced it with a new t-stat as well...everything is fine now, no more leaks and radiator fluid and overflow fluid levels are fine, thanks again.

lt1pwr1

iTrader: (1)

If you bought an aftermarket waterpump then you are lucky it lasted 3 years

knight_rider

Yeah I don't even know what brand it was cuz I had the shop that did it buy it and they asked if I wanted to go with the OEM one or a "heavy duty" one, I chose the heavy duty one and now I regret it..piece of junk didn't even last that long...
This time around I bought a brand new one from Napa (the brand is Tru-Flo Water pumps) and installed it myself, also got a new t-stat while I was at it. Lets hope this one will do its job.

On a side note, I always noticed on my previous water pump my overflow tank was always low for some reason but that the fluid level in the radiator was normal? Maybe it had to do with the water pump but now that I have this new one, the overflow tank level is back to normal. And on my old water pump, after my engine would get all warmed up from driving, when I would start it up again my temp gauge needle would spike way up above normal operating temps and then slowly come back down, weird...its not doing it with this new water pump and t-stat so I'm thinking either the old water pump or t-stat was defective?