radiator hose

It appears that theres coolant leaking from the lower radiator hose where it goes into the water pump. what i dont understand though is theres quite a bit of black grease or some sort all around that part of the hose too. im geussing thats where the coolant is comming out from since theres all that build-up around there and it looks as that could be where its running down from. either way im going to have the hose replaced, just wondering what that black stuff could be around there too...

It's probably not the hose, in either case. The 'grease' was probably slung off of the harmonic balancer/crank pulley and wound up on the hose. The water is likely not coming from the hose, but from the bottom weep hole in the water pump.

yeah i wasnt sure if i should run out and waste my money on a new hose if it wasnt going to fix the problem. i just dont understand how the black sluge can be only on the part where the hose connects to the water pump, the rest of the hose is clean. i hope im not looking at a whole new water pump, that sounds expensive.

If you do the work yourself, you save labor. A new water pump costs perhaps $20-25, and if you smoke that's 4-5 packs of cigarettes, or a case of beer. Or, 1/3 tank of gasoline.

The reason that an amalgam of grease, dirt, oil and whatever else collects on the hose right there, is because "right there" is located directly above, and within a half inch of the harmonic balancer. Grease, oil, coolant, dirt, road grime and whatever else can be collected by the belts will wind up depositing there.

ohhh ok, got it. wow water pumps sure arent as expensive as i thought. i do see a tiny little crack, or potential crack forming on the clean part of the hose as well so i know that will eventualy contribute to the problem, though theres no evidence of leakage from there yet anyway.

Replace the hose while you have it all apart. Just to ward off evil spirits, they're cheap enough. Get a name brand one, never trusted those brand-x hoses or belts, look over the belts too!

Bob