Can you see the weep hole on the pump?

 

 

My suggestion is to replace the water pump. The leak you are seeing will get progressively worse. 173K is really good for a water pump.
You may want to replace the thermostat, and flush the block and heater core while you have the pump off.

 

I agree with you, but my issue is...will that solve that leak? It looks like that area is too far rearward from the water pump to be an issue. The only other thing I can think of in that area would be a head gasket, but I have no clear symptoms of a head gasket failure. I'm going to pressure check the coolant system (hopefully today, as the weather is going to suck the next two days).

 

pressure test is a good plan

 

 

It likely goes in to the cooling jackets though. I bet if you pulled it out, it would happily give you a shower in coolant.

 

Probably. The torque listed was 43 ft lbs. I broke out my torque wrench and set it to the proper torque. It turned a bit before it clicked. If it's a leak from behind the timing cover it's going to be more $$ than I planned on.

 

If it's only the bolt, just drain the cooling system, pull the bolt, put some RTV on the threads, stick it back in, let it cure for an hour or so, refill the cooling system, and see if the leak is dealt with. (you can likely re-use the coolant, depending on how it looks.)