Coolant leak

[dragan54]

I pulled up in front of my with a dual wheel flatbed trailer (empty). Backed it up close to the curb. Didn't see anything or notice anything wrong on gauges. I went in the house and came back out and a big puddle of coolant. Opened the radiator this AM and it looks empty along with with reservoir. I tried to see if there was a hose broke or split. There is still a steady drip, but can't tell where it is coming from.



Any suggestions? Water pump, hoses or was it just low?



2004 stock 5. 9



Thanks

 

[rashwor]

I just changed my water pump earlier this week; it was leaking pretty good. There is what they call a weep hole in the bottom of the pump and when the seals start going out, it will drip out the weep hole at the bottom of the water pump. You should be able to take a flashlight from under neath the truck and look up at the bottom of the water pump and maybe see the leak... it may not be easy to see and require some effort. If it is a steady leak, you should be able to get a pretty good indication from underneath where it is coming from.

 

[dragan54]

Up date I just put some plain water in to see if I could find leak. It looks like it is running out of the front of the engine because there is a stream coming down the bottom of the pulley. Is this a good indication that it is the water pump?

 

[rashwor]

The water pump would be my guess... take a flashlight and look from the bottom to see if you can see exactly where the water is running down from.

 

[rbattelle]

Also check the upper and lower radiator hoses. Could be a bad clamp or rotted hose on the engine end.

-Ryan

 

[dragan54]

It was the water pump. I went ahead and changed thermostat both hoses and serpentine. They were 8 years old so I figured I would get another 8 years ;-)



Thanks for the help. The easiest part of the whole job was the water pump.



Don

 

[S.Morris]

Recommend you change the bearings in the idler pulley and belt tensioner pulley as well. They WILL NOT last another 8yrs if they are original.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Joe is probably right - it doesn't seem like the tensioner lasts any longer than the belt so they should probably be changed at the same time along with the idler. You'll be surprised how much tighter new tensioner is.

 

[dragan54]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will have to do those next weekend. I didn't see your responses till after I put it back together. There is just one bolt holding each of those?



Thanks



Don