the weep hole is on the bottom side, center area, at the edge of pulley, pay attention to what bolts go where there's like 3 different lengths

 

Yeah if your fan moves in an out your water pump is bad. I drove my Dakota til the antifreeze just poured out lol. Not a good idea tHough . My Dakota didn't give much signs of wearing water pump. Replace it cause you don't wanna have to do head gaskets like I did on my 4.7

 

Hmmm....so if I don't see any leaking from the weep hole and the fan has no play at all should I still assume it needs a pump or look elsewhere for the noise?

Like I said the only leak I have seen is a very very small drip from a hose that goes into the top of the pump, looks like a heater hose or something. I'll go drive it around some later then have a look from under it and see if I can see it leaking anywhere else from the pump.

 

take the belt off and spin everything you can alt. power steering see if you can hear it. you can also start the truck and see if the sound is gone

 

The small tube is the heater inlet tube. I personally have never heard of one leaking but I guess it is possible, or maybe the heater hose or clamp is bad. It is best to check the water pump pulley shaft, not the fan. Remove the belt and grab the wp pulley shaft. If there is any in/out or side to side or up and down movement in it, the wp bearing is going bad. There should be no movement at all in the pulley shaft.

The bearing can also make a howling or squalling noise. The chirp noise is likely from coolant getting on the belt. I replaced my own wp at about 142,000 miles. It was making a low squalling noise and the pulley shaft had a bit of side-to-side movement in it. The wp was still working OK, I had no coolant loss or temperature problems but I replaced it anyway before it had a chance to fail.

It is also a very good idea to replace the radiator hoses, the bypass hose and all hose clamps while doing the water pump, and also change out the thermostat while it is all apart and coolant is drained anyway, if the t-stat has not been replaced recently. For what it may be worth I had to get the replacement heater inlet tube at the Dodge dealer. The one they sent with my new water pump did not fit right, the flange on it for mounting it to the block was in the wrong place. I got my new water pump at Autozone, $58.00 and it works fine, been on my truck about 18 months now. The Autozone pump is made in the USA too. I had to get my lower radiator hose at Napa, the upper hose assembly had to come from the dealer, no parts store around here had it, Napa ordered me one and "it just didn't come in on the truck last night"..Autozone was also the only place I could find locally to buy plain old green coolant. Parts stores all sell that universal "mix with any type of coolant". No thanks.

Some say it is best to also replace the fan clutch at the same time you replace a water pump, they both have about the same useable life span. I agree. I learned that one the hard way. I also learned that it is best to use the OEM Mopar fan clutch. Aftermarket fan clutches do not work very well and make more noise than a jet airplane.

Just my 2 cents.

Jimmy

 

Thanks for the info!

The fan clutch was replaced last week, I wish I went ahead and did everything else too. I drove it today and the chirp sound went away after a little while and hasn't come back. I drove it for a while on and off and climbed under it and can't see a single drop coming from anywhere near the water pump. The leak from the heater line is VERY small, as in some coolant around the inlet but I haven't personally seen a real drop yet.

I'll take the fan back off this weekend and see if I feel any play in the water pump.

 

Put a thick coat of water pump RTV sealant around the body of the new heater inlet tube where it goes into the new water pump, above the o-ring. This will ensure a good seal for the inlet tube. Also check the hole in the pump where the inlet tube slides in. Be sure there are no burrs or sharp edges in the hose that can snag the o-ring and damage it. I learned this when I did my own water pump. The first water pump I bought at Napa. I bought it there because their pumps are said to be better than most other parts stores. I found out the hard way it was not. The hole for the inlet tube had been drilled very sloppy, it had a lot of rough edges and sharp burrs down in it that damaged the o-ring on the inlet tube and caused a serious leak. If you care to read it I ranted about it here:

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...i-for-diy.html

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Jimmy