Coolant Pump is Leaking!
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 271
Likes: 0
From: Suisun City CA 1992 Coupe LT1 A4
Coolant Pump is Leaking!
My coolant pump on my 92 LT1 is leaking thru the weep hole at a rapid rate (it's slinging coolant leaking on to the crank pully) and I need to replace it. I lost about a half gallon when the check coolant light came on. Question is do I replace the opti-spark at the same time as it has 72000 miles on it and was possibly drenched by the leak? It runs perfect other than the water pump, no codes or anything. Should I hold off until it also starts to act up? I'm thinking that it's probably towards the end of it's life anyways from what I've read.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,564
Likes: 6
From: Woodstock Georgia
There is no 'right answer'. Depends upon how much you drive it, how much money you want to spend, etc. Just changing a water pump is easy and not reason enough by itself to change an opti. But then opti damage might show up later. Personally I would just do the pump and make sure I had my AAA towing coverage paid up.
Racer
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 429
Likes: 0
From: Plains Ga.
Coolant leak & Opti ??
You probably need to take care of the leak asap. If you don't have the vented Opti set up, it might cause the Opti to fail. One thing you can do to get by for a while is push a small plastic tube up into the drain hole on the water pump to divert the coolant away from the Opti. If you replace the water pump, I would go ahead and service the Opti and up grade to a vented Opti dist. I've been working on an upgrade for the LT1 water pumps to extend the life of them. The factory design has it's flaws. What I have designed would extend the life probably by at least 50% or better.
JTHVETTE
JTHVETTE
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 271
Likes: 0
From: Suisun City CA 1992 Coupe LT1 A4
The vette"s not going anywhere until I get the pump fixed. I've got a new pump on order and I think a tube diverting the coolant away from the opti is a very good idea. Not sure what I'm going to do with the opti. I sure don't want to go back in there again in a couple of months. Replacing the pump looks easy but looks are deceiving as I have found out working on this car. I guess all I've got to lose is a couple of gaskets and a little of my time if the opti goes bad. Maybe I should just replace the pump and see what happens. What the hell. I've got AAA 
Racer
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 429
Likes: 0
From: Plains Ga.
Replacing Opti ???
Originally Posted by wrw7255
The vette"s not going anywhere until I get the pump fixed. I've got a new pump on order and I think a tube diverting the coolant away from the opti is a very good idea. Not sure what I'm going to do with the opti. I sure don't want to go back in there again in a couple of months. Replacing the pump looks easy but looks are deceiving as I have found out working on this car. I guess all I've got to lose is a couple of gaskets and a little of my time if the opti goes bad. Maybe I should just replace the pump and see what happens. What the hell. I've got AAA
I understand what you are saying about the work on the car being "decieving", but if you are down to the waterpump, you are more than 3/4ths done getting to the Opti. Once you get the water pump off
I think you will see what I'm talking about. Just take your time and be patient. These cars can be very trying at times. I know if I were in your shoes I would replace the cap, rotor and install a vent system .
It's good that you have "AAA" ,but cars seem to break down at the worst times. I'm telling you this because I've been there.
Another 2 cents,
JTHVETTE
