OKay, I have a 1997 Dodge 1500 5.9 v8 Laramie with a coolant leak. I've never had an issue with it overheating (granted I keep coolant in it, But just enough). The leak appears to be coming from the water pump (small, makes the belt squeak and sling small amounts of coolant). I'm tempted to just replace the water pump and bypass hose and call It a day, But what's got me concerned is that it never overheats, so could it just be the pump gasket? Is the pump still functioning? I need some recommendations, I'm pretty good under the hood, just don't want to have to pull it apart twice.

 

Oh, no coolant in oil, vice versa.

 

There are some seals in the pump, that will fail after a while, and you will get a leak from the weep hole on the bottom side of the pump. Replacing the pump will probably solve your issue.

Keep in mind, pulling the pump *may* also disturb the gasket on the timing cover.... so, change the pump, and a week later, it's leaking at the cover..... If you have 100K miles on your engine, or more.... wouldn't hurt to pull the cover as well, and replace the timing chain and gears too. About another 70 bucks or so in parts, and another half hour to an hour of labor.

 

I've had to replace the water pump twice on my truck, both times with coolant leaking but no overheating.

 

Ok, I do appreciate the response. And I've been thinking that I may disturb my timing chain cover by removing the pump. As far as replacing the timing chain, I'm not sure finances allow for all of that at once. But if the cover will fail, maybe I should change it.

Have you found the reason for having to replace? did you replace your timing cover gasket/mech?

 

The first time I changed the pump was before it was leaking from the weep hole, that was a few years after I bought the truck (from 2nd owner), I don't know if it was ever replaced before hand.

I did just the pump and a new gasket, no issues with the timing cover. I would suspect it was just age.

2nd time was because I didn't have enough coolant in during last winter and the water froze, after everything thawed I filled up with coolant and everything was fine for a couple of weeks before coolant started to leak, replaced both the pump and bypass hose, which did have a blowout, again I didn't mess with the timing cover gasket.

Clearly the 2nd replacement was strictly my fault for failing to maintain a proper antifreeze level that led to the coolant freezing.

 

There's no guarantee the cover will fail BUT the stock chains do stretch and putting a double roller chain in instead is a good idea. When my water pump was replaced it didn't disturb the timing cover, but I went ahead and did the pump again when I did my chain just to be sure. I also leak coolant but my leak is at the heater core. Last winter, I only ever filled it back up when it quit blowing heat lol. Really need to fix the core but haven't gotten around to it.

 

I replaced my water pump on my 02 had same problem leaking out of weephole. But after the first pump my timing cover started leaking so i replaced chain and gears with new gasket and threw a new pump on since old was warrantied so gotta fresh start out of the deal. Another hour in labor for an easy fix. As long as you have coolant in it, it probably won't over heat since the pump hasn't failed. just my .02