coolant leak

[allensteiner]

i think i'm leaking from the water pump cover but there's no coolant in the oil any other spots it could be coming out of?

after some - lots - of reading i'm pretty positive it's the water pump. now...would replacing only the o-ring on it fix the leak or do i need a new pump?
Modified by allensteiner at 2:59 PM 10/14/2008

[blueis300]

Have you checked the thermostat,heater core, hoses?

[lightsout]

that sucks mang

[MinisterofDOOM]

Hard to say what needs to be replaced until you can see what's going on.

Depending on how many miles are on the motor and whether the water pump has been replaced or not, it might be a good idea to replace it regardless of the leak.

[allensteiner]

yeah, it'll have to wait till spring unless it starts gushing. i'm glad water pumps are cheap

question though. when i pull out the pump isn't coolant that's sitting there going to dump into the timing chain cover? any way to prevent this?

[blueis300]

Dont know but couldnt you drain the radiater to have as less fluid as poissble.

[D-Maxima]

i just resolved this issue myself for my 3rd gen.

I was leaking slowly but sometimes id come to my car and there would be a trail oc coolant leaking from the car.

Luckily, it was only some hoses from the heater unit back to the engine which needed replacing. I had the system pressure checked aftr this to check and there were no leaks anywhere else.

So it may benefit you to check all your hoses/ clamps etc just to be safe. And maybe replace your radiator cap, mine had lost its spring too. You have to check the litle things as well as the big things too!

[Graberhieny]

Sorry to say this, but there is not way to prevent that little bit of coolant draining into the timing chain cover. When I replaced the water pump on my car somehow there was like 3 or 4 oz of it in there and it all dumped out into the timing chain cover. Another time my father and I changed they water pump on my uncle's maxima. I told him how all that coolant went into the timing chain case when I did mine. So we placed a wash rag to try and catch as much as we can and that did not work. The reason it did not work is because there is not enough room down there to place anything. So the only option left is to allow the fluid to go in there and do an oil change once you are done with replacing the water pump.

This is just out of the BLUE, would it help if you jacked the passenger side up so the car is tilted and then when you remove the pump the liquid will in. In this case you would have to work off a step-ladder and might make it a bit harder to work on.

[allensteiner]

This is just out of the BLUE, would it help if you jacked the passenger side up so the car is tilted and then when you remove the pump the liquid will in. In this case you would have to work off a step-ladder and might make it a bit harder to work on.

brilliant!!! thanks, i'm a dumb ... for not thinking about this i have ramps so i can drive onto just one on the right side and it should give me enough tilt. again - brilliant!

[Graberhieny]

No problem. I had a few free hours last night and decided to give back to the Nico club. You guys have given me loads of information and hekped me out with all my problems. I am just trying to get back into the habit of checking the forums at least once a day.

[Nissan6Maxima]

Noticed a weird smell from the engine bay and popped hood and theres coolant everywhere. My resevoir tank is empty but the radiator is still filled. Not sure where the leaks coming from but it looks like the radiator is leaking from the top dripping down. Hard to tell because the fans probably blowing coolant everywhere. Checked a few hoses on top, seem to be ok. Dont think its at the bottom hoses because coolants at top of radiator as well (even though coolants dripped to bottom, i think) Not sure how to check to see if its the radiator itself but there was some slight dripping near the upper tank on top of radiator and around the sealing rubber and core dripping down. Any ideas?*also, how long do i have possibly until the radiator is empty and cant drive anymore before it gets dangerous to my engine?

[Graberhieny]

All I can say is to clean up all the coolant that went everywhere in the engine bay. Fill the radiator and reservoir up to their maximum capacity. Turn the car on and let it heat up and start looking for places where the coolant is dripping out. That is the only thing that I can think of. And also there is not given distance that your car can be driven. I would highly recommend that you get this issue resolved and then drive it. It is not work blowing the engine for a repair that might cost from 20 bucks to 130 dollars. I think that is about how much the radiators are.