Water pump leak

[Eric S]

It's boring when each time you're close to completion a new trouble arise.
Now I have a little leak that seems to come from the bottom of the water pump's body. Of course the bottom bolt can't be reached. I can't see another higher leak.
Is it a big deal to remove the pump? Is there anything else that comes to mind before I jump is this new task?

Any help / thought welcome of course as always.

[jopizz]

Most leaks come from the front shaft. That leak looks more like it's coming from the back gasket but it can be really hard to tell. If you take the fan and water pump pulley off you should be able to see if it's the shaft. If it's the rear gasket you will have to remove the pump to replace it. It's not hard to get off; you have to unbolt the power steering pump bracket and the generator bracket.

John

[Eric S]

John
I really think the back gasket is at fault. I will tart taking parts off starting with the fan to check for the shaft. I assume it's a rebuild if it's the shaft but I can't see any "water" mark above the lower rear gasket nut.
As for removing the pump, it's a bit more than removing the 2 brackets you mention. I need to take off the tank, fan, hoses. I hope the distributor can be left in place.
We have to travel in 2 weeks and I am balancing the amount of leak with the amount of work required (and maybe some surprises as always)

Eric

[jopizz]

You don't need to take off the expansion tank unless you want to. You don't need to touch the distributor either. You will have to loosen the fuel pump.

John

[Eric S]

If the pump has to slide to the top I don't see how to pass the tank.

[jopizz]

Give it a try and see what happens. You can slide it to the side and remove it. The manual makes no mention of removing the tank and I've done it without removing the tank. It's certainly easier without the tank in place. Do what you feel is easiest.

John

[Eric S]

Sure it would make sense while doing it.
For now I changed my strategy.
Since I wanted to clean the cooling circuit with a product and then use anti corrosion and coolant additives, I will also add a product that close small leaks and give it a try.
It should work and will in any case allow us to travel the week-end in 2 weeks.

[jopizz]

I've never had any luck with leak sealers except maybe to fix a pin hole in the radiator. I've never seen one fix a bad gasket; head, intake or otherwise regardless of what the product claims. They are also almost impossible to totally flush out. You will have brown anti-freeze for a long time. I've flushed cooling systems four and five times and still can't get it all out.

John

[Eric S]

John

I used such a product some years ago on my wife's MGC and I recently changed the cooling liquid and it was just nice.
I will use another product for the T-Bird though from a different french supplier/manufacturer.
Today I cleaned the circuit and flushed it with fresh water 4 times. Will add the final coolant next week and the additives. So far the leak did not showed up again but I learned that nothing repair itself on cars...

Eric

[menjor]

I started noticing that I’ve been leaking coolant. It especially leaks heavy after I’ve driven the car and park it.
if traced the leak and found it was happening at the shaft. What has to be replaced in this case?

[jopizz]

You will need to replace the bearing if you can find one. You can send a private message to Carl Heller. His use name is partsetal. He has a pump rebuild kit available. Other than that your only option is a new pump.

John

[Eric S]

Gosh, I forgot I had this leak on my water pump!! As I said above nothing ever repair itself on cars but this leak did not showed up and the recent noise I had seems to vanished with belts adjustments.