I think I found the source of my low coolant problem. It was cold this morning when I was driving into work and I noticed some steam coming out from underneath the hood. I pulled over and took a look under the hood and there was coolant all over the acc. belt and the front half of the passenger side of the engine. The area was soaked but there was a noticiable amount. I did a quick look but it was hard to find a source since it was all over. Where could it be coming from the that area? Is there an easy way to find out?

Thanks

 

prob comming from the water pump

 

This is a stupid question but where is the water pump on these cars? Im used to V8's!!!

 

use Dye to find it from a auto parts store or you can presure test it.

If you need the dye and cant find it in your area got to eastwood.com they sell the kits there also.

Good luck and let us know what ya find.

also check the lower man. gasket or the head gaskets on this motor i hear they are both a weak link. but dont know i have never had this issue with mine. (hope to never have it !!)

 

What year is the car? Hopefully it's something simple like a hose...

 

I will get the dye tommorow. Its a 2000 LS.

 

I took a good look at the car today and it has to be coming from the water pump. The head gasket and intake gasket areas are dry and the area around the water pump is soaked. Any idea how expensive or how hard it is to change the water pump?

 

orthoneepa,
Glad to see you found your leak, i know you've been trying to figure that out for awhile. Here's the good news the water pump is pretty easy to change and not to expensive, water pump is around $25.00-30.00 depending where you buy. Here is a quick review of replacement.
1. loosen the 4 bolts that hold the pulley onto the water pump (bolts are directly on the front of the pulley, just break them loose)
2. go ahead and find the belt tensioner, put a rachet or tensioner tool in the end of the tensioner to unload pressure from the belt and slide the belt off.
3. now remove the 4 bolts from the water pump pulley and it will expose the water pump. Around the perimeter of the pump you will find the bolts that hold the pump to the engine, i think there are 5-6 bolts to remove the pump, make sure you clean off all the old gasket from the engine to prevent any leaks from the new gasket you install.
4. reinstall in reverse order. (BTW ithink the pump will only bolt up one way so all the bolts have to line up correctly, check and mark if necessary.
Hope this helps. See pic of water pump location.
Jack

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its a little harder to get to on 3.8 litre engine but it is stilla simple job compared to alot of other fwd cars

 

Just be glad it wasn't a freeze plug. I had to replace the very back freeze plug on a 95 monte once and it was a huge job. Had to disassemble and completely remove the entire engine just to get to it because I didn't have the tools to drop the tranny. Once you get the motor out it's a 2 min fix, it's just getting to it that's a pain.