I got this water pump replaced by a shop about 150 miles ago. I was 90 miles out of town, 104 degrees, and no tools with me.
It smells like antifreeze when I drive it, and it may have lost a few ounces from the reservoir.
I put the front end on stands and crawled under. It appears that AF is leaking from the lower hose outlet, taking a ride on the balancer pulley, ending up on the spark plug wires, then getting blown back onto the cross member.
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/rvaughn801/WaterPump009.jpg
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/rvaughn801/WaterPump003.jpg
It is hard to tell from the first pic, but with a flashlight the joint between metal pipe and water pump appears to weep AF. The antifreeze is much more evident on shiny black plastic and dark metal, like near the spark plug wires.
Questions:
1. Is this a common point of failure, or should I keep looking for a different leak, unrelated to the water pump replacement?
2. Is it worth the risk of a catastrophic leak (and subsequent opti drenching) to drive 90 miles back to the shop to try again?
Thanks in advance for your help.
It smells like antifreeze when I drive it, and it may have lost a few ounces from the reservoir.
I put the front end on stands and crawled under. It appears that AF is leaking from the lower hose outlet, taking a ride on the balancer pulley, ending up on the spark plug wires, then getting blown back onto the cross member.
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/rvaughn801/WaterPump009.jpg
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/rvaughn801/WaterPump003.jpg
It is hard to tell from the first pic, but with a flashlight the joint between metal pipe and water pump appears to weep AF. The antifreeze is much more evident on shiny black plastic and dark metal, like near the spark plug wires.
Questions:
1. Is this a common point of failure, or should I keep looking for a different leak, unrelated to the water pump replacement?
2. Is it worth the risk of a catastrophic leak (and subsequent opti drenching) to drive 90 miles back to the shop to try again?
Thanks in advance for your help.