Where is my coolant leaking? Does it matter if my vaccum box heat sheild is cracked?

[georgelovesdirt]

yesterday i got out of my car and noticed a strong smell of coolant, sure enough i looked under my car and a decewnt amoutn of coolant was dripping from that little bash gaurd thingy with the upturned lip where the front arms atach to the frame. it was rainign so i wasnt able to slide under there and see where the leak was, where do you think it is? it cant be the core cause the dripping was too far back i think. im going to do the presure test later this week, what should i look for?

also, the plastic around that box with the hoses comming out of it on the right side of the engine compartment (if you are standing in front of the car looking at the motor) is all cracked and some parts have even cracked off, its not TOO bad but i noticed that the plastic box is cliped together, is it bad for this plastic to be all cracked or does it not matter? if igured it was just a heat sheild at first but then i noticed it was clipped together so that made me think it needed to be air tight or something.

[Chris Stewart]

On the presumption you're refering to a '91 to '97 Blazer.....
When you're able to get under to get a good look, see if the drip is coming off the bottom belt pulley. If it is then your water pump needs to be replaced.
Your busted airbox needs to be sealed and the dealer uses some very tough duct tape after tearing up the box replacing the heater blower so you can too.

[georgelovesdirt]

mines a 95. it was dripping from that pully, i definatly need a new water pump. lame. and your saying i can just use realy tough duct tape to seal the air box?

[Chris Stewart]

If it doesn't look like it went through a lawn mower, that's what I would use.

[georgelovesdirt]

how much of a bitch is it going to be for me to replace the water pump myself? i have a garage full of tools and i did the cpi spider replacement fine by myself so i think i can handl it. how much should this water pump cost? what coolant do you recomend? do you recomend i flush it when i replace the water pump and if sohow should i do that?

[Chris Stewart]

The waterpump replacement is not a bad job.
There is a tool available at most auto parts stores for working the idler pulley to release the fan belt. Go ahead and get one and keep it in the car in case you need to replace the belt on the road someday.
Removing the lower radiator hose was the only pain.
Unbolt the air conditioner compressor so the lines can easily be moved around while the upper fan shroud is removed. Remove the upper fan shroud.
If your fan is held on with the one big nut, you'll have to find a way to hold the waterpump pulley while turning the nut counter-clockwise...I used a small prybar between the big nut and one of the waterpump pulley bolts and loosened the nut with a big adjustable wrench & removed the fan.
Remove the 4 waterpump pulley bolts.
Remove the fanbelt with your new fanbelt release tool.
Remove the coolant...I siphoned out as much as I could through a small plastic line stuck down inside the radiator then placed a pan below the waterpump/radiator hose. The bigger the pan, the more coolant you'll catch and be able to properly dispose of. Remove the lower radiator hose...it's tough, after I moved the clamp down the hose toward the radiator, I pushed a small screwdriver between & around the hose and waterpump inlet to get the hose to release. There's some slick tools for that too but I haven't seen them at the auto parts store but most tool trucks can get them for you.
Remove the 4 bolts holding the water pump onto the engine block...sometimes a mirror is good for finding hard to see bolts.
Take the old water pump out and clean the engine block gasket surfaces with a putty knife until you see shiny cast iron..gotta be clean.
Assembly is basically the reverse. I use non-hardening permatex for sealing and holding the gaskets to the waterpump.
I use the new "works with any coolant" antifreeze at Advance Auto Parts, nothing special, just a parts store closest to the house.
Any and all further instructions & ideas gratefully accepted.

[blazes9395]

Chris Stewart pretty much summed it up, but the '95's have the older method of attaching the fan to the pump - the four bolts on the pully. Other than that, also if may I add, make sure you take a good look at your rad hoses at this point, since its really easy to get them off and put new ones if its needed, instead of doing it in the winter, or worse yet the hose springs a leak while your driving. If they are bad, when you are pulling and twisting them to take them off, you will make them worse, so take a good look. Also, when you are putting your new pump back on, make sure the gaskets are positioned properly and went on right before you torque the bolts down. If they didn't go on properly because of movement, you'll have a leak.

[georgelovesdirt]

ok so i went to the store and got some heavy dute scotch duct tape, a water pump, the water pump sealer goo, the prestone flush kit, 2 things of prestone universal coolant (says it can mix with any color coolant), distilled water, and a stant cap (i had been procrastinationg on replacing my acdelco cap)

im going to put the water pump in tomarow. but tonight i crawled under there and took some pics just to confirm with someone who actualy knows what they are looking at that its the water pump.

as you can see its leaking down the left side right behind the pullies. now.. is it that gasket or is it just leaking down that ridge from the water pump above it? i cant tell myself untill i pull the fan off.



a closer look:


turns out my air box cover was a lot more messed up than i remebered... as you can see:



now ill bet that is realy a bitch to get fixed, is it at all possible for me to do it myself? if i pull off the front quarter panel on that side i think it might be possible. what exactly does that cover do?

anyway, i took your advice and fixed it with heavy dute duct tape untill i can figure out what the best way to fix it is... behold my masterpiece!



"You got some lines in your molding get a roll and just wrap it/
how you do that? i call it DUCT TAPE MA-GIC!"

dont worry i bent realy thin sheets of aluminum sheet metal over the exposed parts and taped them on, i didnt use just duct tape.

[Chris Stewart]

Thanks Blazes!

[georgelovesdirt]

i replaced the water pump today, seems as though the leak originated from the seal around the port to the left if you are in front of the car looking at the motor. i probably could have just redid the seals right? i put the new water pump in anyway cause its got 85,000 miles on it and the new one was only 30 bucks.