need help with my 95 Grand Am

[burntsunset]

I have had some serious problems in the past year with my 95 pontiac grand am, most of them until recently have been solved, to start out with i have a brand new heater core, and radiator, and I have replaced the water outlet housing unit almost 3 times this year. and i am still over heating, there is no heat in the car, and I have been told either A it could be the thermastat now or B the water pump. Could someone tell me what the possible cause could be? like i said there is no heat coming into the car, there is a leak that is located towards the back of the engine, but we cannot seem to pin point exactly where it is coming from, but it is infact water/coolant. any possible explanations would be great,

Also, if it could be the water pump, would anyone know what range of a price that would be? or if the waterpump is located in such a place to replace it at home instead of placing it in a shop?

thanks so much.

[xeroinfinity]

I'd say your leak could be a freeze plug or the heater lines.

You didnt mention what engine or you rmileage so we'll guess that you have a Quad 4....
You'll need to pull the timing cover off to access. It should be right above the coolant pipe on the pass side of the engine.

Good Luck and Welcome to AF !

[burntsunset]

yes it is a quad 4. with about 148,000 miles on it. Car seems to cool off really quick after over heating. Where could this freeze plug be located. One last question. Is taking the water pump out as bad of a job as I have been told? I have been told the water pump is connected to the timing. Thanks for your time.

[98xploder]

yup. its located with the timing. its really not too difficult to do though, just takes basic hand tools, you could do it in a weekend. only takes a couple hours to do.

[xeroinfinity]

Originally Posted by burntsunset

yes it is a quad 4. with about 148,000 miles on it. Car seems to cool off really quick after over heating. Where could this freeze plug be located. One last question. Is taking the water pump out as bad of a job as I have been told? I have been told the water pump is connected to the timing. Thanks for your time.

Thier are several freeze plugs on the front and back side of the block. Some are large and a few smaller ones. Look for coolant trails, see this link.

On the water pump see this link...that should give you an idea of its difficulty.

Hope that helps.

[skibum1111]

Water pump on a 95 quad is located on the back side of the motor under the exhaust manifold. To remove the pump you have to remove the exhaust manifold. You don't have to do anything with the timing chain as the drive gear runs on its own bearing. It's not all that difficult of a job, but it's in a cramped location.

[xeroinfinity]

Yeah skii I thought about that after I said it, that's why I posted those links to the procedures at the zone.

Never understood why Gm kept moving things around on thess motors. It's had the most changes ever IMO next to the LS line..... craxy engineers.

[skibum1111]

Design refinements. Plus, some components were added to the motor, balance shafts in 95, things like that. What I often wonder is what were they thinking when they put the t-stat on the bottom back of the motor....