Backed out of the garage today and noticed a small pool of fluid. Turns out to be coolant. I have leaks in weird places around the water pump mating surfaces. Cant find a weep hole unless it is that one with a blue /green plug in it in the second pic...I have coolant pooling around the upper housing areas and also dripping from other mounting bolt locations. Shaft is not loose, no noise from the pump, temps are normal so I dont think the pump itself is bad. Question is do we have an o-ring sealed pump or a gasket sealed pump? Could the o-ring/gasket be failing? Replacement does not seem that difficult but just wondered if anyone else has seen something like this.

 

on the 2G its a gasket for the water pump, i would assume its the same with the 3g.

 

i have s smell of coolant sometimes since i flush and change the thermostat...i dont see any leak and any smoke..and the level stay still...i have no clue what it can be?!?

 

Water Pumps are pretty cheap for our truck. and they are pretty easy to change. I would clean it off and watch it run, see if you can see where its coming from but its probably gonna be the oring type gasket that goes around the back.

 

yea the only thing you can really do to verify is to brake clean the whole area. and hit it with compressed air to completely dry the area off so there is no wet spots. than run the truck at operating temperatures or if your impatient, pressure test the system and watch the area around the pump

 

Autozone had our pumps. Got one with a lifetime warranty for $25 (had a coupon and another discount) so figured I might as well change it out. I figured it was from me prying on the pulley and such trying to remove my clutch fan when I installed the e-fan a couple weeks ago. Installed the new pump in about 1/2 hour. A 13 and 15mm socket was all it took.

You can see here where the leaks were from.

 

In my experience, locating a waterpump leak is pretty tough. Once the system is up to temp and pressurized, the fan comes on and spreads any leaking fluid around the area. Finding the source is easiest once the pump is off and you can see the damage as in the photo above from JKeaton - which looks like cavitation, if I remember my fluid dynamics and metalurgy from 30 years ago. From Wiki - Cavitation is the formation and then immediate implosion of cavities in a liquid – i.e. small liquid-free zones ("bubbles") – that are the consequence of forces acting upon the liquid.[1] It usually occurs when a liquid is subjected to rapid changes of pressure that cause the formation of cavities where the pressure is relatively low. Makes a real mess of metal.

 

[QUOTE=jkeaton;2633181]Autozone had our pumps. Got one with a lifetime warranty for $25 (had a coupon and another discount) so figured I might as well change it out. I figured it was from me prying on the pulley and such trying to remove my clutch fan when I installed the e-fan a couple weeks ago. Installed the new pump in about 1/2 hour. A 13 and 15mm socket was all it took.

AWESOME INFO - thanks for this jkeaton
I have the same leak on my truck that I just noticed about a week ago.
question - is there any real trick to swapping the water pump, or is it as easy as remove the old and replace with the new?
I've never dealt with pulleys and belts...

 

Should be simple. Use a 3/8 ratchet to swing the tensioner around so you can pull the belt. Drain the coolant. Pull the pump. Put the new pump on. Pull the plug on top of the thermostat housing to let out air as you fill the system. Fill the coolant, and ensure there are no leaks. Turn the truck on and bleed the system of all air.

Smile at your accomplishments; for they are great!

 

yeah, I was going to do a write up but it was so simple I dont think it's worth it. I have the e-fan so I did not have to worry about the clutch fan or shroud. You might have to remove those to get clearance to all the mounting bolts. Other that that, like Cuban said, remove the belt, unbolt the pump, bolt on the new one. I did not drain the coolant. I just put a large catch pan underneath and allowed the coolant that came out when I took the pump off to drain into that. Then I just poured it back in after I was done, knowing that I put in exactly what came out. make sure the engine is cool before doing this). The whole job took literally 30 mins.