So driving home last night I got a check gauge light, naturally I looked over at the oil pressure gauge, no issues there, then I noticed the voltage meter was at 0. Battery is pretty new, alternator has been on the truck since I got it, no issues at the moment with the truck so I'm thinking maybe the alternator.

As we continue the ride I start to get kinda like a high idle (for lack of a better term) while driving, kinda like being at the top speed of a gear and not shifting into the next, although the RPM was holding solid at 2k, regardless of how much pressure is on the throttle, a few moments go by and that clears up, then I get some belt squeaking and after a few moments that goes away. That entire process repeats itself 3 times.

As we come to a red light I notice some smoke, at first I thought it was exhaust from the vehicle in front, as we start moving with the green I notice smoke coming from the hood by the windshield. The smoke had no smell.

We get to another red and the engine bay is engulfed in smoke, we're 3 miles from home so I'm tempted to continue but, I decided to play it safe as the squeaking and other weird noises from the engine bay are increasing.

Pull into a shopping center and pop the hood, the truck is pouring liquid from below the fan at the front of the engine. The liquid had absolutely no resemblance of antifreeze except for a faint smell, it was brown and oily - could that be trans fluid from the cooler mixing with the antifreeze? Best I can tell so far the radiator and hoses are fine. The serp belt is still on correctly with no play. I've been through a few water pumps on this truck and this one wasn't even 2 years old, the failure has always presented with a leak at the weep hole, no such luck this time.

I had it towed home and had to get ready for work, so I haven't had a chance to crawl under it and take a look now that its not leaking, so to the question, does this just sound like pump failure or could there possibly be more to it?

I'm on nights so after some rest I gotta check the oil and trans fluid to see how it looks and go from there.

Sorry this was long, wanted to get as much relevant info as possible.

 

Think I would take a good close look at the fluid it's dumping, and see what it really is...... Sounds like you have more than one problem there though..... pump failure, internal radiator failure...... Need to go poking about, and see what you find.

 

Pop off the belt and start checking pulleys. When any accessory goes, it will cause a lack of tension on the belt which means no charging.

How clean is your engine? When coolant starts dumping out nice and hot, it will grab any oil or dirt on its way down the engine and won't look green. Happy hunting!

 

Engine is rather dirty. But the liquid left over that's pooling in places does have a green tint to it now.

Ok, so I removed the belt, all pulleys check out except, you guess it, the water pump. It wiggles all over the place. Although the truck is cold (and off), the trans fluid is nice and red, no chalky stuff on the back of the oil cap but, there's no not a drop of oil on the dip stick (although she leaks). Now onto the steering, pulley checks out, no damage anywhere to the pump or the lines that I can find but, the P.S. fluid reservoir is empty, which is kinda strange. I had to have a new P.S. box installed back in March because the old one leaked, and was in bad shape, it's been solid ever since, no leaks. (and yes, they filled with fluid!)

Crawled under the truck, water pump still nicely mated to the front of the engine, no other issues that I could see through all the other stuff in the area. Coolant hoses look good, radiator looks fine....from the outside.....

I wonder if the oily look to the fluid while it was spitting out at me yesterday was power steering fluid but, while it was parked we left the engine running and watched the pulleys, while the water pump did wiggle a bit everything was turning ok, how would the power steering fluid get the chance to meet the antifreeze?

 

The only green liquid would be antifreeze. Not sure what you meant by not a drop of oil. Are we talking missing ATF or engine oil? Nothing can leak if the fluid is gone. I say top off all missing fluids and go for a quick drive to see what is leaking.

 

Think I'd replace the waterpump before driving it.

 

True...I missed that part about it wiggling.

 

Replace the obviously shot water pump. Top off coolant and run til air is out.

I wouldn't worry about the ps fluid missing unless you have an obvious leak. Could be just a fluke related to the water pump going out. It went bad and caused more tension which caused more tension on every pulley/pump you have. Could've just burned off or made it spew out or something.

Also check the spring on the tensioner. They can go bad too! If you've never done a pulley kit, now is the time (idler, tensioner, belt.)

 

I'd try to test the tranny cooler in the radiator. Plug one side and hook a vacuum tester to the other fitting.