So my dad and I replaced the upper and lower rad hoses a few weeks ago and now its leaking coolant... I went around and retightened the clamps the fluid is around the front of the engine and now all over the belt... is the water pump gasket bad or something else?

Its a 99 318 4x4 so you know..

 

clean it all up, then start it and let it idle in the driveway. start looking for leak. BTDT on my mom's firebird. Had to use X-ray goggles and a tiny flashlight to locate the leak. I know where it's coming from but can't get to it, so it aint getting fixed.

 

Alright, I just don't want anything bad happening especially driving to class and work..... hopefully its something easy to fix

 

Sounds to me like a bad water pump leaking coolant out the weep hole. You can use a flashlight and telescoping mirror to be sure. The weep hole is in the bottom side of the pump and coolant will flow out of it when the pump goes bad. Being a 99, if it has 120,000 miles or more on the original water pump chances are pretty good the pump is bad. You can also remove the belt and grab the water pump pulley shaft, wiggle it around, if there is any play in it you need to replace the pump. It's not a good idea to continue driving the truck until you find the cause of the coolant leak and get it fixed.

Jimmy

 

How's the bypass hose?

 

Its probably the water pump then cause thats where most of the fluid is at and I'll have to drive it about 20 miles to my dads so I can get my car back then...

 

Like Dan said, check the bypass hose while you are at it. It is located behind the water pump and you have to remove the pump to replace the bypass hose anyway. Even if the bypass hose is OK you still should replace it when you replace the water pump. There's no sense in R&R'ing the water pump again just to replace the bypass hose later on.

Jimmy

 

If you said you just replaced the rad hoses check those bad boys again! I just swapped engines and starting leaking coolant last week. Noticed the clamp on my lower rad hose pinched the rubber creating a small exit for the coolant.

Replaced clamp and she works fine now!

Now only if the ***** would stop leaking dif fluid.

 

I did go back and looked at the lower hose and nothing is pinched... I wish it was that simple and cheap to replace but it's probably not going to be fixed until it starts warming up

 

Go to Autozone and rent a cooling system pressure tester. Pump it up and you'll see where it's leaking.