Need Waterpump Advice

[jro909]

well my waterpump was diagnosed as "begining to leak" today from what i gathered it is dripping via the wheep hole and burning off, and to be honest i never noticed, no puddles or smells so i can't really guage how long its been doing this, but i have the following conerns and or questions, any help is appreciated

 

1) roughly how long can i let this go? i know this is hard to measure via the interweb but i just need a rough guess as i need time to build up funds

 

2)what happens when it goes from bad to worse? will it just leak faster or will the pump sieze? or will i overheat?

 

 

will the number of miles the truck has i can't complain about a bad water pump, but my main concern is that it will hold on long enough for me to build up enough money to get it fixed without having the cost of topping it off setting me back

 

thanks in advance

[tanked_darren]

Anytime I had a waterpump go the engine would heat up somethin fierce. Although some people would change it, I'm a firm believer of "If it ain't broke don't fix it" - I would wait till it fails just be aware of the engine temp. Unless the leak gets bad of course then change it as well.

[clemsonblozz]

a weep hole is just channel built into a pump to give you an indication that the seal is failing/failed..

 

it's really a toss up.. it could leak for YEARS and not get worse,, it may fail tomorrow.. if you need a week or so to get some cash up,, you'll be ok..

[TYPE GENDY]

Anytime I had a waterpump go the engine would heat up somethin fierce. Although some people would change it, I'm a firm believer of "If it ain't broke don't fix it" - I would wait till it fails just be aware of the engine temp. Unless the leak gets bad of course then change it as well.

 

I'm pretty sure i've had this issue on my truck for the last 3 years or so. My coolant periodically gets low, but i've never observed a leak. I do smell coolant sometimes, so i was guessing i had a minor leak and it was burning off. If i look in the water pump area on the engine, i see lil drops of something but havent confirmed its coolant. I have thought about proactively fixing it, but argued the same thought of not fixing what isnt broken. Truck has never heated up, but i just worry it may fail on a long trip sometime. Recently i have developed some sort of noise in the belt system, possibly a bearing going, i'm hoping its the water pump and i can kill two birds with one stone (most likely in the dead of winter 0 degrees outside :o )

[Mckenzie]

Mine leaked and i just keep topping it off with coolant every couple of days until i could drive it home and it did fine

[redvett]

Anytime you have a leak and air enters the cooling system corrosion accelerates and aluminum components suffer including block,cylinder heads,radiator,heater core & water pump. Fix it now and save the rest of the components

[SouthCo]

Personally, I'd change it as soon as possible because if it fails totally on the road, you may need a tow and that isn't cheap. Water pumps are not expensive and even if you take it somewhere to have it done it still isn't that much. Like clemson said, it could go for a while or fail tomorrow. It's a toss up. I have kids so breaking down on the side of the road isn't an option.

[ujtruck]

if you have some hand tools + pump + gasket you can do this at home - it is lot better than paying Tow truck

[pm26]

if you have some hand tools + pump + gasket you can do this at home - it is lot better than paying Tow truck

 

Or a new engine.

[8.1HD/ALLISON]

if you have some hand tools + pump + gasket you can do this at home - it is lot better than paying Tow truck

 

Or a new engine.

 

 

 

+1 Waterpumps are cheap comparing to the alternative. The weep hole is there as a way for coolant to exit the waterpump once the seals next to the bearing start leaking. So guess what? You now have coolant getting into your waterpump bearings. Thats a time bomb waiting to happen. I would change pump out at your soonest convience. JMO

[bmp5484]

+2 For the price of a water pump, thats not worth it to be stranded because of something that cheap and easy to do. Air in the cooling sytem is never good. I'd change it asap, JMO

[700 sportsman]

I agree with the others, just try to get it taken care of asap. Also it is a pretty easy job if you are even somewhat mechanically inclined, so that should save you some money as well

[jro909]

i do not plan on letting this go, as soon as i can afford the repair it will be done, its just i want the pump to hold on atleast a month or two...its not making any weird noises and the temp stays stable..i'm currently trying to get on an idea of how bad the loss of coolant is by waiting a few days to check it....120k miles id say the pumps had a good life?

[ranger952]

i do not plan on letting this go, as soon as i can afford the repair it will be done, its just i want the pump to hold on atleast a month or two...its not making any weird noises and the temp stays stable..i'm currently trying to get on an idea of how bad the loss of coolant is by waiting a few days to check it....120k miles id say the pumps had a good life?

You reallt need to replace it now. The other posts regarding coolant getting in the bearings and other issues are correct. This is one of those repairs you can NOT wait on.

[flhusa1]

you may have the infamous leaking waterpump gaskets. never had a waterpump gasket fail on a vehicle until i owned a gm 5.3. might as well replace the pump.