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Came home the other night, smelled a little coolant in the garage. The next time i started it up, low coolant light came on. It took 2 quarts to bring it up to level. Anyway, after starting, i see a steady stream coming from the front of the engine. I have a '90 coupe, 6speed. Now the place i feel coolant is at the base of where the lower rad. hose meets the water pump. I figure the hose has gone bad, so after much hassel, i got the hose of. Seems to be intact. Is there a way to tell if the water pump has gone at this point? It feels dry underneath it. I figure I'm halfway there, if it needs to be replaced. I suppose its possible the hose was just slipping off of the pump, but i guess there is no real way to tell that now, without putting it back on. Except the hose got a little damaged during removal . Any help would be appreciated.
Do you have a stripe like this under your hood? If so, it's the WP leaking coolant onto the serp. belt, and the belt slinging it up onto the underside of the hood. A dead-ringer for a bad WP.
Get your hands on a small mirror. I have one on a telescoping wand, but anything that will fit in the available space will work. Look at the bottom of the water pump near the forward end where it disappears inside of the pulley. You will see a hole in the bottom of the water pump casting. It is about 1/8th-3/16ths of an inch in diameter and it's called the "weep hole". When the seals inside the pump start to leak, water is discharged through the weep hole. You may have to "pressure up" the cooling system to make it leak. If water comes out of that hole, you've picked a good time to replace the pump. If the weep hole stays dry, you have greater access, now, to find the real leak.
I'll try to rig up a mirror in the a.m. I think I can feel most of the way around the bottom of the WP, (busted knuckles), and couldnt find the weep hole. Obviously, I'm in the wrong spot. I'll get back to everyone, and thanks.