Dane.

I bought my car with 139k. One of the first things I did was change the oil, I used 5w30 synthetic. Probabably not the best choice, but is cold here in Pa so I figured it might be better for the cold starts every morning. Anyways, today I changed the water pump. while I had the pump off I cleaned a lot of the caked up oil from the front of the engine. After finishing the pump change I took the car out on a drive and let it get up to temp. I brought it back home and got under it again, only to realize that there is oil dripping from the front seal, timming cover and possibly from up around the water pump drive shaft. Not a huge amount, but more than normal. I guess the 5w30 is catching back up with me. Maybe cleaning off the caked up oil is causing the drip? Whats a good high milage oil combination? How about some of that Lucas oil treatment? Maybe engine honey? What are you high milage guys doing to keep the oil where it belongs?

Also, after a water pump swap is it normal to get a little coolant leakage from around the pump bearing?

duh

iTrader: (16)

Well, first thing I wouldn't do is put that oil stop junk in the engine, never had good luck with it. I'd recommend pulling it apart and putting a new gasket and seals on the front cover. As for the water pump, it shouldn't leak at all. If it's coming from the drive bearing there is something wrong. Definitely return it for a new one. Plus that gives you the little bit of a start to do the front of the engine.

andysc

iTrader: (6)

I agree with the previous post about replacing the gaskets. Since you have to remove the wp again, I would at least replace the cap and rotor on the opti, or replace the whole opti. The cap and rotor do wear just like a sbc. Some people have had problems after swapping the cap and rotor. I did not. If plug wires and plugs don't look new, I would replace them also. Change fuel filter, trans fluid, rear diff, cooling system and now you have a known reference going forward of when to maintain your car. I did this and I now have 248k on mine. Still runs great, has all bolt-ons. Will probably last another 100k unless I do something stupid.

hth

andy schuck

Flamingchicken94

iTrader: (3)

I've got 230K on my bolt on car.. I change my oil regularly and that Lucas Oil Stabilizer is worth its weight in gold, I love it haha.

I've also put on an electric water pump with a 160* thermostat to keep the temp down..

pancho toco loco

iTrader: (8)

You def disturbed a pre existing problem. Front cover gasket and drive pump seals are very common to failing when changing water pumps. Your gonna want to re-seal the cover like said b4 plus the seals...

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

It's possible all that oil is coming from only one source. Clean the engine once again, run for awhile and start feeling around (from the top of the engine and work your way down).


Why?

RedHotG8

iTrader: (1)

Synthetic oil has a high solvency, so it washes away the dirt and sludge that collects around the seals, which causes the old seals to leak. If you use a high mileage synthetic oil it has seal conditioners that might stop the leak after a fair amount of miles. This isn't guarantied though, so you would need to replace the seals if it doesn't stop leaking.

pancho toco loco

iTrader: (8)

SS RRR I have no real answer other then the two lt1 pumps Ive changed have all ended up seal or cover leaks. And I have heard and read a fair share of similar results

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

I honestly don't see how that is possible since changing out a waterpump does not involve doing anything to any timing cover seal and the only gaskets that are touched are the w/p gaskets themselves.