As our cars get up there in miles (my car working towards 117,000 miles), I thought I would share. For about a year and a half my car had experienced an intermittent, cyclical chirp that I first attributed to a worn serpentine belt. The noise came on a few minutes after a cold start and would abate as the engine warmed up. A new belt and tension idler pulley did not cure the issue. When I took the car off the battery tender this year, I noticed a wet spot directly under the engine- it was slightly brown- and I wasn't sure if it was oil, hydraulic fluid or coolant. After experiencing coolant loss last year, my mechanic having done a pressure test on the car found a leak in the radiator- so I had the radiator replaced; so I was disinclined to think it was coolant. However, when I noticed a drop in the coolant level a couple of weeks ago; and a spot on the driveway, the water pump became a prime suspect. What is interesting is the spotting would be there some days, and not others.

I replaced the water pump Friday and this solved both the spotting and the noise. The water pump appeared to be original to the car, when I inspected the old gaskets I noticed the driver's side gasket was broken in several places (see the top gasket at 3 and 9 o'clock on the square seal and at 12 and 6 o'clock on the round seal). No doubt this is where the leaks were sourced. I also noted that all four of the lower bolts showed signs of corrosion near the heads (the threads were fairly clean, leading me to believe this was a longstanding issue. When I spun the old pump's bell, it spun freely as a worn ungreased bearing would spin and it growled a bit. At no time did I experience an engine cooling issue, however. Also be advised that apparently there are two different styles of thermostats for this car. I had ordered the wrong one, but found the correct thermostat (installed in a new bell housing) at AutoZone (just $22). The water pump replacement is actually fairly easy. With little mechanical skills, I managed to get it done in 2.5 hours (not counting my trip to AutoZone)..

The most difficult part of this job is getting the new pump with gaskets secured and thanks to this forum's older posts, I learned of the rubber band trick- simply put a rubber band around the two bolts after putting the gaskets in place- I used another rubber band to serve as a pull in order to stretch the rubber band where I could break it and remove it once the through bolts started. Worked like a charm!

The lower hoses were the more difficult to get off- I used a dental pick to slip underneath the hose to help break them free and some vice grips (gently) to wiggle and pull the hoses to free them.

Because I had fresh coolant in the car from last year's radiator replacement, and I did not want to get under the car, I did not drain the coolant from the bottom of the radiator. Rather, I did all the work from the top of the engine- I simply put some aluminum pans under the car- pulled the hose from the reservoir off the water pump and drained the coolant from the water pump. I put a wine bottle cork into the reservoir hose, but realized by keeping the hose up- there was no need for the cork. The car took only 2 gallons of coolant to get it up to the cold fill line.

My total parts cost including coolant was $140.

The second thing I would like to share is my car started showing some uneven acceleration- and so long as I rolled up to the higher rpms slowly the car ran just fine- however if I was too aggressive with the throttle input the car acted as if it were hitting the rev limiter at around 4,000 rpm. The car ran just fine otherwise, no codes, no issues with gas mileage. I thought perhaps I might have a bad coil (having already replaced the plugs and wires). The problem turned out to be as simple as cleaning the mass air flow sensor. After I cleaned the MAF (using MAF cleaner); the car now accelerates smoothly and all the way to the redline without a hitch.

I had owned this car for just shy of 4 years and never gave that MAF a second thought. Only after cleaning the MAF and experiencing a near miraculous and instant result, I researched it a bit and it appears that many recommend the MAF be cleaned with every oil change. That, I believe is very good advice. So a cautionary tale here; should you ever experience degraded performance, best start with something as simple as cleaning that MAF!

The old water pump gaskets: top driver's side, bottom passenger side.

 

Moving this to C5 Tech as it give good guidance for replacement of the water pump and also the recommendation of cleaning the MAF occasionally.

Thanks for sharing this info.

 

Vetteman Jack, thank you; I never felt qualified enough to post anything in C5 Tech, I am flattered!!!!