There’s one of my favorites…hey Cougar, last time I took it to my buddies shop, I wanted a rad flush but he didn’t have the tools (heh heh) , he’s in the middle of building one of the coolest race cars I’ve ever seen from scratch, roll cage this month, and he couldn’t flush my radiator LOL. His guy just did a drain n fill. I can probably only afford one this month, so head gasket leak first I assume? (Oil pan later)
Do you think the water pump is the culprit of the leak and that steady drops is enough to lose half a gallon parked over the weekend? Think I better get the pump done today, am I risking it seizing if I wait a week?
Need your advice please if you would…
The bearings sound at the water pump just started 2 days ago, it was so soft that my mechanic and I both thought it was just a minor valve tap under the intake manifold, it’s right next to the water pump drive belt on the Aurora. You do remember I have the Caddy Northstar 8 banger in my Aurora, yes? Do you think the half-gallon of rad fluid I’m losing is from the water pump? My guy pulled the fill bottle (on the Northstar, the radiator is a closed, pressurized system with no overflow), and he checked to see if it had a crack, nothing there.
We don’t see leaks from anywhere except a slow steady drip from the front of the water pump, but why do I lose a half gallon when it’s parked and not run for 2 days? It hardly loses more than a few drops when the engine is hot…
Can we chat for a minute GSJ? Cougar is helping me out as well, I need my best team to keep this beast on the road without breaking us…I’m permanently disabled, but I have to drive my boy to school (and pickup) daily, 15 min each way, no where near where my wife works. We just re’fied our house 6 mos ago, her Terrain will be paid off in May and I’ll have $300 a month free to get this car right. I kinda have to tread water until then, I can afford the H2O pump job, maybe valve cover gaskets, but I have to fight the most important battles first (small leak at oil pan gasket not a priority when all it costs is half a quart every 2 weeks)
Thanks for all the help George
Read about people using hand held temp guns to isolate hot components. Would a thermal infrared heat camera show which fuse is warmer in a cold setting after 6 hrs or so?
I suggest you replace the pump as soon as you can. Who knows when it is going to cause a break down while you’re on the road somewhere and then will need to have it towed somewhere to be fixed. You can then save some money for the other less urgent repairs that need to be addressed. I would have the radiator checked out to see if it needs to be replaced, due to high corrosion inside it, or just cleaning it out will suffice. I assume it is the original radiator and now pretty old.
Not to be a spoiler . . .
I seem to remember hearing that Northstars are well known for cracked blocks
And I also heard it’s not just a few, but all of them
After the pump and radiator is replaced a cooling system pressure test probably makes sense. With the radiator and pump out, that’s a good time to check the condition of the related cooling system hoses, especially near their connections, and replace any that are marginal.
Isn’t that what we are doing? All the to-and-fro here are part of the public Car Talk forum, and it’s done that way b/c it might help others with similar problems.
blocks don’t crack. The headbolts pull out.
If the head bolts pull out, I assume the block will be damaged . . .
This sounds like the exact same problem as on the Toyota 2.4 liter engine
I meant chatting here, thanks Hoses and pressure test , good idea
Doing it on Monday, thanks Cougar, I added stopleak which lasted a month, then last week I was back to adding half a gallon of water if the car sat for 2 days and we can literally hear the sound of bearings at the fuel pump. It’s very quiet so far, so quiet that both my mechanic and I thought it was a simple valve tap until Thursday when I could plainly hear the sound came from the water pump. I do have one other concern, can you lose half a gallon of water from a leaky water pump? 2) Why doesn’t it leak when I’m driving it Cougar? I drove it to my mechanic, sat for 45 min and only 2-3 drops of water hit the ground, but when I park it over the weekend, and it’s not even running, I will lose 1/2 a gallon ice cold? I don’t want to pull it apart, drop $250 on the water pump and labor (plus a specialized tool just to pull it) and put it back together only to find the leak was elsewhere.
Cougar, I forgot to tell you, I just had to replace a “new” battery, (lucky it had a warranty, Aurora batteries cost $180, they are the size of boat batteries). This is now the 3rd battery in 2 years, and one was brand new (I used 2 remans) Something is killing my batteries Cougar, a vampire draw perhaps? I should mention I have a number of electrical problems as it might help you diagnose. My cruise control quit working, all my interior lamps, my drivers side power seats, both exterior power mirrors. I will tell you I had a bad habit of leaving my windows rolled down and water surely got inside my drivers side door (I once replaced the power window motor and couldn’t seal the plastic cover back on properly). When I take a test lamp to my fuse panel by the drivers side knee, 4 fuses wont light up (you guessed it, the interior lamps fuses). Care to take a shot? Thanks
PS When installing my new battery yesterday, the positive cable is stripped, meaning it’s on properly, but not torqued down very tightly
I highly suggest you perform a block test. When you’re losing as much coolant as you mentioned, you may want to make sure the coolant isn’t going where it’s not supposed to be
As @db4690 stated, I also think it would be a good idea to have a block check done to see if exhaust gases are getting into the coolant. There may be a head gasket leak.
For the battery drain issue, have the shop check the current draw on the battery while everything is OFF and are in the ‘sleep mode’ to see if there is an excessive current draw on the battery. They should be able to locate the problem area if there is an issue found.
Since no power is getting to the interior lighting fuses the next step is to check the circuit that provides the power to those fuses. It most likely ties to a main fuse under the hood. If that fuse is okay then the wiring between those two points needs to be checked out.