Water pump on 1999 Lumina

[Bauer4665]

I have a 1999 Chevrolet Lumina and the other day my water pump went. I am not sure whether it is the pump itself or the gasket. I will be checking very soon to see which one it is. My question is how much would a water pump cost if it ends up being the pump that is broken?

[cadgear]

NewGMParts.com lists the 3.1L pump at about $65, I feel my pump is getting ready to go too. Or the bearings, anyhow. It gives me this awful buzzing racket when the engine is cold, and its definitely the water pump. I need to flush the coolant anyhow so that'll be tons of fun.

[Bauer4665]

I checked newgmparts.com and the website would not give me a price on a water pump gasket. Does anyone know where I can find out how much the gasket alone would cost???

Thanks

[SlamminMOfo]

Autozone has the gaskets for a 3.1 and 3.8 for under $3.00 each

[cadgear]

There's mechanical and collision catalogs on the site. Why I don't know, but most of the products are under collision. The 3.1 gasket is 56 cents, but shipping costs/times pretty much make that a moot point. Cheaper and easier to go to autozone like SlamminMOfo said.

[Bauer4665]

Alright guys, thanks a lot! I appreciate it!

[Rufo]

Hey I know you need to do drain your coolant system to replace the pump, do you need to do more draining than removing the plug on your radiator?
I've got the manual, it says typically that's enough, is it enough in this case?

Thanks in advance
-Ruf

[cadgear]

I'd drain the whole system anyway, even if you've got brand new coolant in there. The reasoning behind is, that if your pump is/went bad, then your coolant has particles of broken pump pieces in it. You may as well just go ahead and drain the whole system, flush, replace the pump, and refill. It'll save you some time and probably help the new pump out too.

[Rufo]

good thinking, thanks

[GTLumina]

I recently replaced my water pump on my 97. The pump from Advance Auto was around $28.00 if I remember correctly and of course it came with a new gasket. However, I am still not sure if that is what was leaking. After I replaced it my car immediately began loping at idle. It turned out that my intake manifold gasket had failed. So...can the intake manifold gasket cause leaking outside of the engine around the water pump area?

[cadgear]

Intake manifold gaskets are notorious on these cars. Most of the time they leak coolant to the internals of the engine, namely the oil will be frothy. However, looking at the 3100, I could see how the intake gasket, if broken at the right place, could make it seem like the pump is leaking. Someone confirm this?