big coolant leak

**Siciliano15** · 04-30-2010, 08:38 PM

is there a certain problem area with these ls1's where they leak coolant from a certain area? i have a 1998 trans am and it all of a sudden one day started leaking a lot of coolant. i tried to find where it was leaking from and it seemed to be from the water pump area. it seemed to be running off the bottom of the water pump even with the car not running every time i would top off the radiator. im not sure if it was from a gasket or from the front of the water pump but if you were me what would you do? wat is the best replacement water pump and should i replace it?

**Sas** · 04-30-2010, 09:04 PM

Sounds like your water pump's on it's final legs, I just replaced mine and the leaking stopped. When I pulled mine I noticed the gasket was shot, so I just replaced everything, to save the hassle of having to tear it all apart in a couple months. I think you have an LT1 if I remember the years right and first thing I'd do is pull it out and see if the leaks coming out of the hole on the bottom. That's the first sign it's shot. I don't remember if you can see the weep hole without pulling it out on earlier years.

Nevermind, just looked and you have a LS1, so no weep hole on the bottom.

**Siciliano15** · 05-01-2010, 09:00 AM

i did see a tiny hole but i didnt notice any water coming out of it. would u go with a stock replacement or an ls6 one? i was on ws6 store.com and saw they have an edelbrock one and an electric powered one. which one would be the best?

**sunsetorangess** · 05-01-2010, 10:37 AM

Stay away from electric if its a Daily Driver, A stock replacement will do just fine.
Under the neck of the water pump there is a "weep" hole that allows coolant to flow out when the seals go bad internaly on the pump. I would either rent or purchase a cooling system pressure checker to pin point the cause of your leak. All you do is connect it to the neck of the radiator and pump it to add pressure to the system and find your leak. Alot of parts stores rent them now, its easier to find the leak rather than replace the pump and find out it was just a hose.
J

**Y2KPewterSS** · 05-01-2010, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by sunsetorangess

Stay away from electric if its a Daily Driver, A stock replacement will do just fine.
Under the neck of the water pump there is a "weep" hole that allows coolant to flow out when the seals go bad internaly on the pump. I would either rent or purchase a cooling system pressure checker to pin point the cause of your leak. All you do is connect it to the neck of the radiator and pump it to add pressure to the system and find your leak. Alot of parts stores rent them now, its easier to find the leak rather than replace the pump and find out it was just a hose.
J

**xTAWS6X** · 05-01-2010, 01:23 PM

My 98 TA did the same thing man. I pulled the pump and found out the lower factory gasket had blown. Since my car had been running kinda hot as of late I went ahead and replace the waterpump and thermostat. It's simple to do, the water pump was 133.91 and the thermostat i got was a Mr. Gasket 160 degree, after shipping it was 17.86.

**Siciliano15** · 05-01-2010, 06:26 PM

dont even need a pressure tester. i pour water in the radiator and it drips right out under the water pump. went to advance auto and ordered a new asc stock replacement water pump also around $133 and got two felpro gaskets to go with it and a felpro thermostat gasket. should be in by tuesday they said.

**sjsingle1** · 05-01-2010, 08:55 PM

just change it.......and t stat........and hoses............problem solved

**xTAWS6X** · 05-02-2010, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by sjsingle1

just change it.......and t stat........and hoses............problem solved

Thats what I did

**Siciliano15** · 05-03-2010, 01:31 PM

t-stat is like 3 months old so thats ok. gonna change the pump for now and see what happens. gonna be changing heads in about 2 months so ill change the hoses then.