Water Pump test - 94 4.3 "w" newbie question

[cone87]

94 S-10 Blazer "W" 4.3 engine

Got leak in front of truck. Looked this weekend, pulled off shroud and appears that anti-freeze is leaking from water pump, although it seems to drip from what looks like the pulley right below it. I'm thinking it must be dripping and running down the side. I searched the forum and you guys have great stuff on how to replace, which I think I can tackle with help from autozone fan tool rental. I'm also going to flush and fill, replace lower and upper hose and thermostat.Problem is I don't have the coin now, I have to wait for about 2 weeks.

If the water pump leaks, is it still moving the antifreesze through the system and it just has a faulty gasket or something? Or does the leak mean that the whole pump is not pumping anything? I remember a trick my buddy told me that, after it warms up, open the rad cap (carefully) and see if the anttifreese is moving through the radiator. Is this trick still good to see if the pump is at least barely working at will get me through the next 2 weeks?

Thanks for you guys help.

[blazee]

The water pump is designed to leak when it needs to be replaced. When the bearings are going out they wear the seal inside and then anti-freeze leaks out of the weep holes. It needs to be replaced ASAP. I just replaced mine a couple weeks ago. I posted a walk-through in the "long lasting 4.3" thread. Mine went out faster than any I have seen before. It went from a couple drops to undrivable in about 20 miles.

[cone87]

Thanks BlazerLT, Guess I'm doin it this weekend. Maybe I will hold off on the other parts and do just the pump.

[blazee]

Originally Posted by cone87

Thanks BlazerLT,

?

Originally Posted by cone87

Guess I'm doin it this weekend. Maybe I will hold off on the other parts and do just the pump.

Keep in mind yours will be slighty different than the one I described in the walkthrough. Yours may not need the fan tool, i believe it may just bolt on.

If you can't buy all the parts now....I would go ahead and replace the pump now and do the other parts later. If you will be doing the others soon, just fill up the system with water after you replace the pump, that way you don't have to waste the antifreeze when you do the other stuff. Don't wait to long to do the other stuff because plain water doesn't prevent corrosion.

[BlazerLT]

hehehehe.......

My legend precedes me.....