trying to find a mysterious coolant leak, could it be a water pump going bad?

[Bernie Benz]

Alan,

I’ve had that cold engine startup clatter for years now, and  
attribute it to belt idler bearings, not WP.
WPs seldom fail because of bearing failure, so they don’t normally  
seize. Rather, almost always failure is because of the coolant face  
seal which is independent of the cartridge bearing. So, isolate the  
leak and fix what’s broke.

Bernie

On Jan 2, 2008, at 1:44 AM, <alancordeiro at att.net>  
<alancordeiro at att.net> wrote:

> Over the last few days, the car has begun to drip coolant from  
> under the engine pan.
> I have not been able to pin-point the source.
>
> Last night I recalled that there has been a recent startup clatter  
> that has been bothering me.
> It started about two weeks ago, begins at the first cold engine  
> start, and goes away after a
> few minutes of running. I suddenly came to me that perhaps the two  
> are related and I have
> a water pump going bad. If this really is the case, and the pump  
> seizes while operating,
> I could lose the engine......
>
> Has anyone else seem such a problem. The water pump and idler  
> pulley were
> replaced along with the last timing belt swap about three years and  
> 55k miles ago.
> The miles have been mostly freeway, the timing belt looks brand  
> new...I figured
> I could stretch this change out another 10k miles beyond the 60k.
>
> Has anyone else seen a similar issue. and found a coolant leak not  
> related
> to the water pump. Else has someone had a water pump go bad....what
> are the symptoms when it does? Nothing in the archives describes  
> this case,
>
> Thanks,
>
> Alan
>
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