[guitarfish]

This is a little long, bear with me, I need some help.

10 days ago my son is driving to work in his 97 GP 3800 (no SC). (130K miles, very well taken care of). The pulley busts off the idler tensioner, the serp belt falls off. He turns around and drives home. The trip home is about 15 minutes. At about 3 minutes into the trip home, the temp is in the red area of the gauge. You and I would shut the car off, but he didn't.

It was 10 degrees out, and he says he coasted often, and the needle went back and forth between full red and just below red. The last 1/2 mile or so before he gets to the house, the engine is starting to run pretty rough (he described it as sounding diesel-like). Finally home, he shuts it off. Of course, I'm not told about this up front.

I replace the idler pulley, but I also see power steering fluid dripping out at the PS pump seal, so I had to replace that too. Once back together, everything seems OK.

A week goes by, and his low coolant light comes on. There's coolant all around the water pump, I can't tell exactly where it's coming from, but I'm pretty sure it's the pump, so I replace it.

It's been 2 days, and we're still losing coolant, about a two cups per day. I see some coolant around the water pump gasket. (I used blue RTV silicone sealant on both sides of the gasket when I installed the new WP). I am not certain if it's coming through the gasket, or if in fact it's coming from somewhere else, and just landing/collecting on top of the WP.

Now I find out about the high temp drive last week, and I'm in panic mode. Is it possible something more serious is wrong, such as a head gasket, or cracked head, etc?

The engine oil dipstick shows no bubbles and seems to be pure oil. I used some foaming engine cleaner around the WP area tonight to clean things up and hopefully get a better idea where the coolant is coming from.

SO...

-Comments on the high temp, and possible damage?
-Does it sound like it just might be a bad install of the WP gasket?

Thanks guys