loss of coolant... then i found it...

[murphmobile2]

on top of my water pump. a puddle on each side...

i noticed it when i popped my hood to work on her a little today since it was warm out and all. first i saw i had no coolant in the reservoir... then i started looking around and found two "puddles" of coolant on either side of the water pump.

and ive only driven it twice since around Halloween.

[Lincolnmania]

yep it's water pump season
gadgets and mrmarquis water pumps were the most recent to fail......dont worry once you have done it 20 times or more it's easy lol

[mrltd]

That could be the t-stat housing, upper rad hose, or one of the heater core or bypass hoses pooling on the timing cover.

[gadget73]

On top of the water pump? Like right behind it, and directly below the thermostat? Sounds more like the tstat gasket or hose. When the pumps go, usually you'll see it coming out the bottom of the weep hole, or running out between the pump and timing cover. When it leaks out of there, the back of the pump is rotting through.

[murphmobile2]

I'll take some pics tomorrow, I cleaned up the coolant but I'll mark where it was.

I really wouldn't mind replacing the pump, most the gaskets on that motor leak anyways. Really need to replace alot of them in spring.

[91LTDProject]

Everytime I have found coolant on my engines in that location, a pressure test has proven it to be a T-stat housing gasket or a poorly sealed upper rad hose.

[murphmobile2]

I'm starting to wonder if it is the thermostat, I havn't changed it for about 2 years. But I didn't feel any moisture under it or around the hoses.

Here's what I've got. I cleaned most of it up too...

[mrltd]

That's coming from up high. T stat housing, intake manifold, or one of the numerous hoses there. Look for crustiness on the housing for signs of leakage. It will only probably leak under high pressure situations, which are high RPM or after the car is shut down and the temp builds up.

[85crownHPP]

Im sure most of us have little puddles of something there

[Lincolnmania]

not my towny or my 89 vic or the wagons.......looks like an intake gasket or a thermostat housing gasket leak, maybe both.......from the looks of the timing cover gasket and the water pump gasket, they are gonna start pissing sooner or later too.......do yourself a favor and do em all at once

[murphmobile2]

That's what I was thinking about. I've already got a new thermostat and gasket in my garage, picked them up today when I got off work.

If I tear it all down... I'm going to replace all my heater hoses and the water pump too. If the pump's coming off I might aswell replace it so I don't gotta worry about it incase it pukes on me lol.

I'm thinking that if I'll be replacing all those gaskets, maybe I could upgrade my timing chain. I've come to the conclusion that I'll just be building up this motor instead of replacing it. She's a good motor. She really needs to leak less though lol.

[gadget73]

since you havce an 85, if the pump comes off, i'd suggest a timing chain too. the 85's still had those plastic teeth on the timing set and the chains get real sloppy. the slop is part of why some of the cfi motors randomly buck and carry on sometimes.

[Lincolnmania]

yes definitely replace the timing chain and gears while it is apart

[murphmobile2]

How hard would it be to upgrade to a gear drive?

And I also have a set of underdrive pulleys in my garage that have been there for over a year... is there any certain water pump I would have to get in order to install them?

[gadget73]

possible machine shop work to clearance the timing cover, but they do no good honestly. Just makes noise.

water pump should be the same. Also not 100% sure if mustang pullies work, there is possibly a different offset for those. I'd say something about the AC also not working but I noticed its missing already.