I came outside from work and there was a large puddle of coolant under the car. Hmmm….whats this??? I had been filling it and watching things over the past week. Now it has developed a dripping leak. The source seemed to be the water pump, but not the weep hole at the top, but it seemed to be coming from the lower part of the water pump. I wonder if its just a gasket failure, or the bolts working themselves loose? Well a water pump is cheap, comes with a new gasket and its one of the few things I have NOT replaced on the 02 so why not just replace it. I plan on doing a 3 core radiator upgrade this summer as well, just because. So I grabbed a new water pump and gasket from Mesa Performance for $65 and looked at the removal and reinstall procedure in my Haynes manual. Its a pretty straightforward process. Drain the radiator. Remove the radiator, alternator belt, pulley, and battery (for working room). Remove the hoses in the area. Undo the various bolts on the water pump, and pull the old unit off. I then cleaned the mating surface thoroughly. Then I installed the new water pump in the reverse order. Then refilled the system with fresh coolant, started the engine and checked for leaks. Once I was satisfied there were no leaks I took it for a test drive and parked on a steep incline to burp the cooling system. It was simple and went without a hitch. Job well done. An easy fix and now I am confident I will have a trouble free cooling system for years to come!
