Thanks for the link, but it does not answer my main question of do you much more experienced folks think its probably the pump, and how and what sort of PIA is it to get out

Regards

Barry

 

Hi all
During this years MOT on Saturday the tester noticed one or two drips of coolant on the from cross member, we search pretty hard but were unable to find where its coming from.

The car is not using any significant amount of water but I did notice that the fans were coming on more frequently than I would of thought, especially in this weather.
My guess is the water pump is on its way out, what do you think?
If it is the pump who makes a good replacement, should I stick to a new Delco? I have never done a water pump on a vette and looking at Lars writeup it looks a bit of a fiddle. How long does it normally take and what size are the main bolts so that I can get some long series sockets.
I did wonder about an electric one but I wonder about reliability as this is my main focus with the car.

Thanks for all of the help as always

Barry

 

At the expense of sounding short, you need to read some in this forum. All the answers have already been completely discussed.

Here is a thread: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1555157

 

Thanks everyone especially C4Cruiser, really great info, are 'flare' wrenches the same sort of thing you use on brake pipes or what we call ring spanners, a bit like a normal wrench but its a complete ring?

Barry

Edit-- Sorry should have said yes its an 86 with alloy heads---

 

You can see the weep hole with a mirror. You can reach under there with a finger to find the weep hole. If your finger comes back out wet, it's time for a water pump.



Any fasteners that screw into the engine (most of what you will be dealing with) will be inch sized and not metric.

RACE ON!!!

 

Flare wrenches are close to that but have a small opening at the top of the "ring" in order to get the line through the wrench. A fully-round or enclosed type of wrench is what we call a box-end wrench.

 

Thanks for the description I will go out and get some

Regards

Barry

 

According to your profile, you have an '86 right?? A water pump R&R is not that difficult to do but more time-consuming.

I had a similar slow loss of coolant on my 87 that would leave about 100mL on the garage floor every time the car was driven. I would also get a Low Coolant light and I would wind up adding about a half-liter of coolant after a day of driving. It would never overheat so the leak was more of a pain rather than a potential problem

The water pump has a "weep hole" that you can feel with your fingers. It will be under the "snout" of the pump. Some pumps have a similar hole at the top and is plainly visible. If the seals in the pump are bad, water will come out of the weep hole so that's one place to look. IF there is coolant there, a new pump is in order.

The leak on mine turned out to be a bad gasket where the pump attaches to the block on the passenger side. As pressure built in the system, water would be forced out; when the engine cooled down, the leak would stop.

The tools you will need are basic metric sockets and wrenches. You will need to remove most all of the accessories (AIR pump,alternator, A/C compressor, belt tensioner and all of the AIR system hoses and components at the front of the motor.

There is a long bolt at the bottom of the A/C compressor that uses a Torx driver to loosen. IIRC, it's a T40 or T45; you will need a Torx socket to loosen this bolt. The A/C receiver/drier will have to be moved out of the way to get this bolt out far enough to remove the compresor (the A/C lines do not have to be removed!!).

There is an accessory bracket on the front of the motor that holds these items and it has to come off to get to the wter pump bolts. You will see that two fuel line run through this bracket. Fortunately they can be disconnected at the front of the engine and you just need a pair of wrenches to loosen the nuts. They are not that tight, but it's a good idea to use flare wrenches to avoid rounding off the heads.

Once you get to the pump, the 4 bolts are esily removeable. Note that one bolt goes through the front water jacket of the block. You will need a thread sealant for this bolt to keep water from leaking through the bolt hole. Clean the block mating surface and make sure that no old gasket material remains. Use a good paper gasket and a gasket sealer to avoid any leaking.

With the pump off, it's a good time to replace the lower radiator hose and the upper one too if they are more than 5 years old! Also do a coolant flush and refill with a 50-50 mix of a good ethlyene glycol (green) anti-freeze and distilled water. You will need 8 liters of coolant and 8 liters of water. Also remove the plastic overflow tank and clen it out and fill with the fresh coolant mix.

 

Yep, when you start seeing a small amount of water (coolant) there, take a close look at the weep hole....typical of a water pump on its way out.

 

Hi Barry,

Also, the next time it makes things easier if you tell us what year Vette you have as there is a big difference between L98s and LTXs. I see you have an 86. I sent you to the wrong thread.

 

On my '88, with the "upgraded" A/C compressor setup, the hardest part of doing the WP was getting all the damn brackets out of the way to access the pump bolts and the hoses.

Be sure to use a swab of Permatex #2 on the WP bolts as they go into the coolant jacket.

For products like that where I do NOT want to go there again I drop the coin for OEM style parts from AC Delco.