Coolant leak

[pvt num 11]

I've noticed recently that I'm dripping coolant from somewhere at the front of the block, not sure exactly where, if it's the water pump or a bad hose or whatever. I've had to pour a full gallon of water late last week and it's low again. Does the water pump have a seep hole that goes when it's on its last legs? I've got some sort of grinding noise from the front and something up there squeaked, but now it isn't. I can't see really well under there even with dinky hands and a mini-maglite to see where the leak is at. I'll feel around with the car running to see if the pump is the source of the mechanical grinding noise. Yes, I'll make sure not to wear a ring or a watch when I do that, and to avoid the turbo heatshield, as well as other moving parts. Maybe I'll use a stick. *shrug*

How hard is it to change out the water pump, and do these things go bad? (My GTA's pump went south when I first bought it, but it wasn't leaking, just grating itself to death - bearings were trashed.) Anyone got pictures of fried pumps they could show me? It only runs hot when the coolant level gets lower then normal, otherwise it runs and drives great.

 

[Gary Wells]

FWIW & IMHO:
My guess would be the water pump itself is going bad, has gone bad. There is a hole at the bottom of the shaft outlet to drain water when the seals go bad. Never changed one out myself. Don't know about the TTA's, but on a Turbo Buick, sometimes the water from the leaking pump will get on/in the crank sensor, and cause it to go out soon afterward. This happened to me a few years back. Fix the waterpump, and if the car quits within the next couple of weeks, you will know that the TTA's suffer the same as the Turbo Buicks from the crank sensor going out from too much water getting on it. HTH

 

[Grumpy]

very easy to change a water pump .

 

[mark b]

I was disappointed that my GN water pump went at < 50,XXX miles. The biggest hassle is removing the intercooler. If you had a front mount, it would be cake...so.... get a new water pump and a front mount

FWIW, I got that Flow-Cooler high volume pump from Summit for my TTA (haven't put it on yet...)