water pump going??

Hi I'm new to this forum, but it certainly looks like you all know what you're talking about.

I think I have a water pump issue. I don't do much work on my own car, but I like to do a few things that I can, and at least know that the garage I take it to isn't scamming me...

I've got a 94 Sentra, 1.6L, with almost 250K kilometers (not sure what that is in miles) on it. Recently we noticed that when the car is idling, the heat disappears, as soon as you start driving again, it's back. This only happens when it's idling for a few minutes, not just at a stop light. A friend thought it might be the water pump. I checked the upper radiator hose like it says to do in my Chilton, and there is no "rush" of fluid back into the hose after squeezing it.

Should I get this replaced right away? Or do I have a few days. Is it safe to take on the highway (about 45 min each way)?

Thanks in advance for any help.:rolleyes:

Wait, so your motor isn't warming up? Have you done a radiator flush recently? If that doesn't take care of it, and you have the proper amount of coolant, then yes it's probably the pump. Haha, just make sure it isn't just a belt first!

Thanks for the reply. Yes the engine does heat up. When it's idling, the interior heat disappears (it's quite important up here in Canada, you know :wink: ). Not immediately, but after a few minutes, and takes a bit to come back too.

I've tried this in the driveway. Get the engine temp up to normal, heat is turned on... no heat coming out into the car... give it some gas and voila! Heat.

As far as I can see, all the belts are there, and working... I'll check the coolant though. Thanks for that ...

So the motor retains it's heat, but the climate controls don't? If you're temp gauge isn't fluctauting along with your interior heat, I'd say it's something more along the lines of the heater core. Which is strange because Nissan's rarely ever have trouble with parts such as that.

Heater core! OK. I'll look into that. I'm going to talk to my excellent mechanic today, and see if he agrees.

Thanks for the input. I'll let you know how it goes. :licka:

The heat completely disappeared last night (it's around -20 Celsius at night now too!), after I forgot to phone my mechanic to schedule my car in... Fortunately, he squeezed me in at the last minute this morning.

Not the heater core, not the water pump.

stuck blend door(s). And a flush and fill for good measure.

(whew!)

Thanks for your assistance along the way. I'll be sure to come back here the next time something goes wrong... (not if... when!)