wayland1985

Excuse my ignorance... I'm no mechanic!

I've been hearing some whine in the engine compartment, but only when the revs are in the higher ranges.

My initial thought is power steering pump (it seems most pronounced when the revs are up and I'm taking a corner), but now I'm wondering if maybe it's a water pump issue? It doesn't whine at a standstill, and the steering doesn't feel heavy...

Besides leaking coolant, what would indicate a water pump issue? My car's thermometer seems to sit pretty at 210, but I want to rule everything out before I attempt to swap out the steering pump.

fleetmgr

If the water pump goes bad, it's normally the seal that fails first, not the bearing. When the seal fail, the pump starts peeing coolant out of a small hole in the bottom of the pump housing solely for the purpose of alerting you to the fact that the seal has failed. With an LT1, this peeing goes all over the distributor, killing it.

Your clue here is the noise while making a turn. When was the last time you checked the oil level in your PS pump?

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Yea...the water pumps don't stop pumping water, they are mechanical. But they spring leaks when the seal goes.....((You could be the one in a million who actually shear a water pump shaft....but then you would overheat right into the read on the temp gauge in 15 minutes, every time.))

Simply check your coolant level. AND.....a lot of times when that seal does fail it doesn't just blow out and water always pours out. A lot of times it only leaks after the engine is hot and pressure in the coolant system has built up enough to overcome the small leak. Further.....sometimes even after you have driven the car and it gets to operating temp its still not enough....then when you shut the engine off and walk away, as the pressure and heat rise for a little while before it actually starts to cool....it could leak at that time when you aren't there to hear/see it.

So if you check the coolant level and it looks like some coolant is going somewhere......get the engine up to full operating temp, drive it up onto front end ramps, walk away for about 15 minutes.....then come back with a flashlight and start looking for the leak. If its not obvious as "fleetmgr" said and clearly pouring from the weep hole under the water pump housing.....start looking everywhere for a pinhole leak.
....If you find nothing but you are losing coolant.....could be a blown head gasket which means the coolant could be filling a cylinder(s) after you shut the engine down.

You know if the PS pump is failing if it whines when you turn the steering wheel FULL left and right while sitting still not moving. If the steering reaches the stops and you hear nothing....its most likely ok.

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wayland1985

Thanks guys. PS level is okay... Maybe I need to keep hunting for the noise source.

Thanks again. Learned something new. I wasn't sure how accurate the water temp gauge is.

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Temp gauges in these cars are great....but you have to hook up a scanner to see what temps are each of your tick marks on your gauge.....then from there you will always know exactly what your temps are.

When I hooked up my friends scanner a drove around with it for a couple weeks, I learned what my gauge reads for each tick mark.....and the whole two weeks I had it they always read 100% accurate every time I drove. So these temp gauges are as accurate as any other that you can install.....you just have to first KNOW YOUR gauge......

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