I got hosed....

[Tinkerin_wit_tools]

Last week, my 94 lesabre was making a funny noise and the other day noticed a small puddle of coolant formed underneath my car. Decided to start it up and saw coolant shooting out of a hose near my water pump. I drained the coolant, took the alternator and drive belt off and removed the hose( this is the hose that goes from the intake manifold to the top of my water pump ). It was very soft and spongy, and the thinner and more brittle part split and sprayed coolant. Within the last few months, I replaced the intake manifold gasket and the UIM and this worried me. The water pump gasket was fine after inspection, and I did replace the hose with fresh clamps, but it still weighs on my mind. What worries me is that the water pump looks easy to take off, but it is attached to the motor mounting frame of the car. Once I looked in my manual, it says to jack or hoist your engine before you do this and since I don't have the equipment, I know it will cost me an arm and a leg just to do a simple water pump because of this fact. Since the hose went, I want to know from and experienced mechanic......should I be worried about the water pump going??????

[Scrapper]

no not if the hose was as bad as you said it was and you might want to take a look in your radiator to make sure it's cirulating if so i wouldn't worry about it.

[spinne1]

Originally Posted by Tinkerin_wit_tools

Last week, my 94 lesabre was making a funny noise and the other day noticed a small puddle of coolant formed underneath my car. Decided to start it up and saw coolant shooting out of a hose near my water pump. I drained the coolant, took the alternator and drive belt off and removed the hose( this is the hose that goes from the intake manifold to the top of my water pump ). It was very soft and spongy, and the thinner and more brittle part split and sprayed coolant. Within the last few months, I replaced the intake manifold gasket and the UIM and this worried me. The water pump gasket was fine after inspection, and I did replace the hose with fresh clamps, but it still weighs on my mind. What worries me is that the water pump looks easy to take off, but it is attached to the motor mounting frame of the car. Once I looked in my manual, it says to jack or hoist your engine before you do this and since I don't have the equipment, I know it will cost me an arm and a leg just to do a simple water pump because of this fact. Since the hose went, I want to know from and experienced mechanic......should I be worried about the water pump going??????

If it is the original water pump you should change it. Your car is 15 years old. If you change it you need not worry about it. They are not that expensive. As for the motor mount, if you need to remove it you can simply put a jack under the oil pan with a board in between the jack and the oil pan to protect the oil pan and jack it only until it is snug against the oil pan, but not so far as to actually push the engine upward.

[jbjslambert]

if you dont have a floor jack, just use the manufacture's jack in the trunk, i have done this when in a pinch,just use some sort of board or something between the jack and the oil pan for protection.

[Tinkerin_wit_tools]

Originally Posted by spinne1

If it is the original water pump you should change it. Your car is 15 years old. If you change it you need not worry about it. They are not that expensive. As for the motor mount, if you need to remove it you can simply put a jack under the oil pan with a board in between the jack and the oil pan to protect the oil pan and jack it only until it is snug against the oil pan, but not so far as to actually push the engine upward.

I am no physicist, but won't this damage or crush the oil pan with all that weight resting on it??? This is my only concern. I would love to able to do this myself, but I don't want to cause more damage to another part of the engine when I repair one, that's all.....

[Tinkerin_wit_tools]

Originally Posted by Scrapper

no not if the hose was as bad as you said it was and you might want to take a look in your radiator to make sure it's cirulating if so i wouldn't worry about it.

The radiator circulates fine. When I did the intake manifold, I flushed the cooling system and when I recently did the hose and had to drain the coolant, it looked nice and bright green. No junk or corrosion circulating, maybe it was just time for the hose to be replaced. Thank you for the input, and I won't worry too much....