Hello again,
A couple of months back I posted a question about a rough starting issue with our 2004 Grand Prix and I received great advice about cleaning the throttle body. It did the trick!
Well I'm back again this time with a coolant leak. A couple of days ago I noticed a thin puddle of fluid in the drive way. Today I got to the car in time to fill the overflow tank to restore the coolant level. My initial instincts made me think either a leaky intake manifold gasket or a leaky water pump.
I checked the intake manifold and it wasn't leaking. I then deduced that it was the water pump. I noticed the belt and pulleys were dry. The spash shield below the pulleys was dry. My wife even suggested I make sure overflow tank didn't have a crack. It seemed to be ok.
I started the car and looked underneath and found a trail of Dexcool running along the passenger side sub rail. I found coolant running down the inner axle and rear of the transaxle. I looked up and found a small drip coming from what looked to be the rear of the steering pump. It's a pretty cramped area.
So I pulled the passenger wheel off to get a closer look and saw some residual coolant around the oil filter mount.
With my beloved stone age-era vehicles when the water pump died it bleed anti freeze through the weep hole below the pump and leaked all over the pulleys, belts, etc. My early diagnosis has me almost ruling out the water pump and looking for a temp gauge sending unit around the water pump. Is this item in the vicinity of the water pump?
Is the weep hole leak on these Series III 3800s slight enough to spare the pulleys, belt, and shield from getting drenched?
I plan on removing the plastic skirt below the inner wheel well to see if I can get a better look. The car has 65,000 miles, but I know too well that water pumps can go out any time. I just want to make sure I know what's leaking before I start taking the car apart to repair it.
I appreciate everybody's input.
