99 Chevy Suburban. I had a coolant leak from what I thought was a bad water pump, so I replaced it. I still have a leak and appears to be coming from the cover behind the water pump but its hard to tell. I don’t see any leakage looking down from the top of the engine. However, looking underneath, c…

No, not possible…The cover behind the water pump is the timing cover…The timing chain and gears are behind it, lubricated with engine oil…There is a cover on the back of the water pump. Maybe it’s leaking. “Rebuilt” doesn’t mean much anymore…Use a hand mirror and bright light to see under the pump…

I wouldn’t have thought so either. Looking at other blogs, there was mention of water gallerys behind the cover which is why I asked. Anyway, the pump is NEW not rebuilt. I’ve tried using mirrors and lights but with all the ‘stuff’ around the front of the engine, its difficult to look in the nooks…

Not by chance a diesel engine model is it? A quick look at some pics of the gaskets involved shows coolant circulating through the timing cover on the diesel engines so it could be entirely possible the cover gasket is leaking between the cover and engine block.

No, its a gas engine (5.7L) but thanks for the reply.

Did this gasket get changed along with the 2 small ones? http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/FEL0/13032.oap?year=1999&make=Chevrolet&model=C1500%2BSuburban&vi=1352988&pt=01381&ppt=C0331

The gasket shown in the picture is for the back plate of the water pump, so no, I did not replace it since the pump itself is new, not rebuilt.

I’m running out of ideas unless there is some fluky problem with that gasket between the plate and pump. My memory is very very hazy on this but I vaguely remember running across something like this on one of my project cars a few years ago. (Ford 5.0) The gasket between the pump and plate was lea…

On these engines there is that large hose that snap fits into a cast fitting on the manifold, I have seen this line (o’ring sealed) leak, give it a look.

Replacing the water pump with a new one doesn’t mean that the work was properly done. Was the mounting surface on the engine cleaned thoroughly? Was the mating surface on the new pump cleaned and coated with a tack film, NOT RTV. Were the mounting bolts run in and tightened diagonally in stages?

Also, NEW water pumps fail. Parts houses are selling really cheaply made new pumps from China that are failing out of the box.

Antifreeze leaking from front of engine

Maintenance/Repairs

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Antifreeze leaking from front of engine

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