excuse my language. this is the worst ive seen it leak.

 

Looks a lot like a failed water pump to me.

 

i ordered a gates water pump, inlet tube, thermostat and the housing. felpro gaskets and a new fancy radiator cap. should be here end of this week or early next week.

obviously i need to keep an eye on coolant level. but is it ok to drive to work only with it like this till i get the parts? the gauge in the dash has never shown signs of overheating.

 

I wouldn't. That's a pretty serious leak, and it's only going to get worse. The pump may fail completely, and then you would need a tow......

 

lucky for me i work for a tow company. but i dont have a choice until the new pump gets here.

 

That is alot of loss. I wouldn't drive it, you drop enough coolant, the temp sensor may not tell you soon enough before you ruin stuff.

 

Years ago my pump sprang a leak in the housing. I was about 80 miles away from home and had to limp it back. Luckily i made it to a walmart and bought about 8 gallons of water. Filled it up(with the cap off) and drove it until it started to over heat then stop and wait to refill it again. Made it most of the way but had to refill the gallons at a business that had spicket. Pulled the pump off and this is what i found.

 

yeah im driving around with 3 gallons of water and when i park i set the pan under it to catch all fluids. it leaks all fluid from the resivior and a good bit from the rad as well. i drive maybe 4 miles to and from work. it does get to operating temp during each drive though. which is the scariest part for me. like i mentioned before, i dont have a choice but to drive it until the new parts come in and then ill be swapping out allot of things relative to the water pump.
im sure this is the original pump so 168k isnt too bad.

also when doing the repair im thinking of disconnecting the wires at the alternator and the ac compressor and then unbolting that bracket and keeping it all together and move it out of the way. every video i see shows ppl unbolting the alt and compressor from the bracket and then unbolting the bracket by it self. what do you recommend?

without a fan clutch removal tool, do you have any tips on getting that off and then back on?

 

You can make one with either a piece of wood or flat stock and a couple bolts. I still have a makeshift one buried somewhere in the garage from when I installed my efan ten years ago...

 

im thinking about renting one, but they have like 5 or 6 different clutch fan removal tools. not sure which one i need.
parts are scheduled to be here on monday next week, so they will probably be here friday or saturday. trying to make sure i have everything needed to do this job.