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Is my waterpump gone?

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Old Aug 25, 2008 | 04:45 PM
  #1  
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Default Is my waterpump gone?

I have a 98 WS6 with 33k miles. I noticed my coolant level decreasing every so often & had no idea where it was going. The other day, I came outside from the store & noticed a small puddle of fluid under my car. I looked underneath & fluid was slowly dripping from around the water pump area, it was coolant! Ive searched & it appears I have paper gaskets? My question is how do I know if the gaskets gave away or if its the pump? All the hoses seem to be fine. I dont want to change the pump if I dont have to. Thanks in advance.
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Old Aug 25, 2008 | 05:08 PM
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LS1 waterpumps usually last around 100K before the go out. Mine went out right at 99.8K.

You may just need to pull and replace the gaskets.

OR: go and rent a cooling system pressure tester from autozone or any parts store. When the engine is cold, put the pump on the radiator and pump it up to the pressure indicated on the radiator cap. This will show you a leak easily.
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Old Aug 25, 2008 | 07:33 PM
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Thats a good idea. Hopefully the pressure tester will help to replicate the leak. I took off the belt & the pump pulley seems fine, no resistance or play.
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Old Aug 26, 2008 | 12:29 AM
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Did you check your throttle body? I had a coolant leaking from either the inlet or outlet side which I just bypassed. But the real culprit was my waterpump. It was shot to hell mainly cause I let the simple maintenance checks like fluids slide a little. Low coolant over time...cooked waterpump and probably gaskets too. I get the dumbass award for that 1. Coulda got some braided steel break lines.

Waterpump is a breeze to take off and put back on.
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Old Aug 26, 2008 | 03:36 PM
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The throttle body hoses arent leaking. It looks like im going to have to get some metal gaskets. I will be pulling the pump this weekend. Its funny how the 99+ cars came with metal one, but not the 98's?
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Old Aug 26, 2008 | 04:19 PM
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yeah, my waterpump went out at 100k. it worked fine until i took it off to take my heads off. put it back on and started leaking 300 miles later. i thought it was the paper gasket, so i put metal ones on it and it still leaked. lol. i was pissed. so i had to buy a new one and put that one on and everything was good to go. the good thing is, its not hard at all to do.
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Old Aug 27, 2008 | 02:17 PM
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My 1998 Z28s pump went out right after I had the DEXCOOL flushed and that was at 60k
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Old Dec 14, 2008 | 07:55 PM
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For the record, mine also went right at 100k. blast
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