i crawled under the truck this morning with a flashlight. the whole passenger side of the water pump where it meets the block is covered in coolant so i checked up by the thermostat and it was dry. looked at the left side of the water pump was dry too. sound like a bypass hose? if it is would it be best to change the water pump at all or no?

 

It would probably not be a bad idea to replace the water pump, lower radiator hose, and the bypass house.

 

I had the same problem exactly as you described. The only way I could find the leak was to wash down the engine bay, then let it dry. After running the truck for a bit, it got up to running temperature where the thermostat opened and built up pressure in the hoses. I thought this would show me the leak but it seemed to leak out when the truck was shut off.

I too had all new hoses from what the previous owner told me but as it turns out they did not replace the bypass hose. In the end it was the bypass hose. Easy fix, just a bit time consuming unbolting and tying stuff out of the way.

If you have no leaks from your main hoses, rad, or weep hole. I would say either the pump gasket is gone or the bypass hose is wore or the clams are loose. My money is on the bypass hose.

Hope that helps!

One more thing, if you have the extra cash and the pumps older, then you could change it. The manual mentioned to make sure when you drain a bit of coolant out of the system before detaching the hoses or it may spill out. (I didnt drain mine and had no problem but was advised to)

From what I remember, the thermostat was behind the water pump in the engine block. If you do the pump, I would recommend changing the thermostat while the pump is off.

 

I had a very similar situation occur to me this past summer. It turned out to be the water pump, leaking intermittently as you described. If you do end up replacing it, make sure you replace the bypass hose as well. Water pump/bypass hose leaks are annoying to track down because the fan catches the leaking fluid and sprays it all over the engine bay.

 

thanks for the help, info and advice, would it be safe to drive for another week and a half? reason being is i'm really close to having enough to buy another vehicle to use as a daily driver, my truck is terrible in the snow right now...lol if not i'll have to buy them one at a time.

 

If you are Johnny on the spot with that coolant level, and keep a good eye on the engine temp, you should be ok for a little while. I wouldn't go far, tho

 

yeah better safe than sorry. i'll just borrow a car or carpool. (the only times i'd be driving the truck is tuesday and friday and only 30min a day anyway). from previous experiences, i have a bottle of every fluid i would need for my truck just in case...i'm always prepared for a breakdown.

 

I went two weeks with the leak but checked the levels constantly. The leak didn't get bad till near the end of the second week. Also couldn't wait any longer, didn't want to kill the cats in the area where I live haha.

 

lol i don't have to worry about them. i live next to a bunch of huge fields...the coyotes get them...

 

I just had a similar thing happen to my truck, and it turned out to be the timing cover gasket. So I replaced that and havn't had any problems since.