Water pump and valve cover died at 15,000 miles? WHY?

[redraif]

So all has been going well with the fellow. Mom has been using him, no issues. Still have to deal with the darn cat. Code came back!

Anyway. We have the sport on the wekends, Mom during the week. Well last night while parking in the garage apparently the sport decides to start weeping coolant. Nothing large enough for me to even notice or smell. I drove along completely unaware. No Smell, no temp issues. Well I drove 10 minutes down the road to the bus station. I parked and did a once over as always... by then I had a nice little waterfall coming out the dead center bottom. I looked some more... the driver side wheel well, suspension and tire were covered in coolant. UGH!

Well rather then let it sit leaking coolant I decided to risk the leak and drive to the mechanic. Better than the 2-3 hour wait on the tow truck. 15 minute drive with the house in between. Windows down heat blaring and off we went. Temp held dead center on the gauge, even through a few lights. Started to creak up by the house, so I stopped and let it cool.

I was able to top off the radiator without it causing me a bath in coolant. It really did not take much at all. ODD! Then I looked at the reservior. It was still at the max level. WTF???

Why was it not drawing from the res? So once topped off and sitting for about 15 minutes, I took to the rest of the trip. 5 more minutes and we were at the mechanic. The temp had started creaping again as I pulled in. I parked and it was waterfall time again.

I told him I suspected the water pump, but odd cause we changed it when we changed the timing belt at 225,000. We are now at 240,000??? Why was the res still full. Asked him to check out the oil leak on the front of the motor leaking down the oil pan. If it was acessible with the water pump change then we might as well do it.

I get a call back. The water pump is indeed bad. So I was right... but the oil leak is the valve cover? Well he changed the valve cover when he did the water pump and timing belt.

So is it at all normal that the water pump and valve cover prematurely failed at 15,000 miles?

[ES_97Sport]

Apr 24, 2015 16:12:17 GMT -5 redraif said:

... Why was it not drawing from the res? ...

Check the coolant reservoir. Take it out, dump what's in side and clean it out good. Then check the hose and make sure its not plugged. That was the problem with my '97 a couple years ago. After a while if everything works perfectly, the fluid in the tank and hose start to dry up and you end up with a bunch of crusty crud in the hose and bottom of the tank. That's just an overflow tank. If the radiator fluid level is ok, it'll never touch the overflow so the water evaporates leaving all the chemicals.

Get a new -correct- OEM Mitsu radiator cap and replace the old one. BTW, I tried three aftermarket ones - never got the tank to work correctly with them.

... I told him I suspected the water pump, but odd cause we changed it when we changed the timing belt at 225,000. We are now at 240,000??? Why was the res still full. Asked him to check out the oil leak on the front of the motor leaking down the oil pan. If it was acessible with the water pump change then we might as well do it.

I get a call back. The water pump is indeed bad. So I was right... but the oil leak is the valve cover? Well he changed the valve cover when he did the water pump and timing belt.

So is it at all normal that the water pump and valve cover prematurely failed at 15,000 miles?

No. That's not normal. My guess is the valve cover gasket wasn't installed correctly.

Where was the water pump leaking from? The weep hole on the snout? That would be a seal failure. Was it making any noise? Noise would be a bearing failure which would result in the seal failing.

My first guess would be non-OEM cheap water pump seal and/or bearing failure. Been there, seen that. If it was a pump bearing failure, then I'd suspect an out of balance fan assembly.

Kinda hard to troubleshoot over the internet but 15K on a water pump is not in any way normal. I've changed water pumps three times on my big Sport in 500K+ miles so ....

I don't know how much this makes a difference or what, but ... I started putting a bottle of BG BeCool in with every antifreeze flush about 10 years ago. Since I've replaced one pump and that was because of a noisy bearing years and years ago. Don't know if there's any connection. I DO know that you never, ever run straight water or too much less than 50/50 without additives. Some of the things in antifreeze are lubricants - take those out and neither the bearings or seals will last long.

Edward

[redraif]

So I got word back... pump was under warrenty so new part is free. Labor is not... ugh.... 220.00 later.. it's fixed.

Here is the kicker...
the pump did not fail.
The pump seal did not fail.
It was a seal behind the water pump. They still exchanged the pump under warranty though.

So that was a new one!

Valve cover had to wait. $300 more was not in the cards right now.

Man I wish there was a way labor could be included under parts warrenty situations. Then I would have been fine....

[jkdv8]

They should honor the valve cover seal replacement. Only reason they would leak that soon is from improper installation.

[russiankid]

Which seal behind the pump? The housing to block or pump to housing seals?

[redraif]

Apr 26, 2015 21:32:28 GMT -5 jkdv8 said:

They should honor the valve cover seal replacement. Only reason they would leak that soon is from improper installation.

Yeah they did not seem interested at all. They said the mileage is low, but the time frame is out of warrrenty. Concidereing how much I have spent with them I'm more then ticked at this whole situation. Going to fight more on that one soon. FOr now I told them to hold off cause I had to have it back for Mom to use.

[redraif]

Apr 27, 2015 8:23:35 GMT -5 russiankid said:

Which seal behind the pump? The housing to block or pump to housing seals?

Well I got to talk to the wife of the mechanic. She is not that good with in depth repair details. I plan to call up there and get that clarified. The mechanic was not available when I called to inquire. She said it was not the water pump seal but a seal behind that.

[jkdv8]

That makes sense. Most will only warrant for a year.

[dclambertt]

I had a radiator cap disintegrate when I first bought the MS with no outward indication, other than it was releasing coolant out into the reservoir and overflowing on trips. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from until the temp started to creep on steep hill, so I pulled over and let it cool down, then pulled the cap off and the internals literally fell off the cap. Replaced with a cap from NAPA and all has been well since.

[dclambertt]

Apr 26, 2015 21:32:28 GMT -5 jkdv8 said:

They should honor the valve cover seal replacement. Only reason they would leak that soon is from improper installation.

Hope they didn't torque your valve cover bolts to 30 foot-pounds instead of inch-pounds.

[bdmontero]

If the valve covers are warped they WILL leak regardless of what you do.

Sent from my SM-N900V using proboards

[redraif]

Guess that's something I need to address when we do handle the leak in the next few...

How bad is it to do ones self?

Is this a case of removing the intake to do it? I did the Fieros stamped steel valve cover and had to tamp the steel back flat. I opted to protect them after by using load spreaders I ditched off my firebird's old steel covers when I went to the aluminum style instead.

After that the reoccurring oil leak on the fiero was gone.

[dclambertt]

I had to flatten the bolt holes on my valve covers before re-installing them. No leaks to date, but they weren't warped either.

[dirk]

I did pretty much every gasket/seal imaginable on my MS when I did the timing water pump etc, 200 miles later it was still leaking, then had to pay for them to replace the valve cover and gasket again. and that was only 250 miles between the repairs, I haven't found any leaks since but yeah I was pretty upset having to pay for labor 2 times only about 1 week apart.

[jkdv8]

Also thought you're suppose to use rtv sealant. Think the service manual mentions it to.