creepingdeath94

iTrader: (1)

Just a quick question regarding the water pump coupler. I swapped water pumps earlier today and used a good used pump but didn't swap out O-rings. Needless to say it leaked and I had to tear it back down again. My question is would the O-rings alone cause a leak if they were rock hard or is it more likely from the timing cover water pump drive seal? If the O-rings were bad/missing would play in the engine side of the shaft cause a leak?

shbox

The only way the o-rings could be involved is if they caused a wobble of the coupler, unseating the timing cover seal area. I don't see that scenario likely, since at teardown, most o-rings are so worn out as to have lost all effectiveness. The o-rings don't control oil leakage. They only seal the grease inside the coupler. You probably just have a bad timing cover seal.

creepingdeath94

iTrader: (1)

The small one that is on the drive spline shaft for the water pump? My only question is could just wiggling things around pulling off the old water pump and reinstalling the new one have caused this oil leak, as there was little to no oil leak prior to the WP swap? I do see some "play" when I try and wiggle the shaft coming out of the motor/timing cover...is that normal as well and just old hard seal didn't like the movement of this swap and started leaking now?

Lastly, do I need to pull the distributor/crank/balancer pulley in order to remove the old WP drive gear seal or is there a way to do it without removing all that?

shbox

Yeah, the water pump seal on the timing cover. That's the one you were referring to, right? There is usually a little slop in the driveshaft. Perhaps your activity wallowed out the seal and made it leak. At any rate, it likely needs to be changed now. The opti has to come off to fully reach the seal. Make sure you have read and understood the special needs of protecting the seal when you install it or it will leak even worse.