How can I drive 1000 miles with a coolant leak?

[atikovi]

I bought a '97 limo in Florida and need to drive it 1000 miles to get it home. The problem is that it's leaking coolant from what I assume is the water pump as its trickling down at the frame in front of the crank pully. It's not too bad, maybe 2 drips per second when the engine is warmed up. I don't have even the basic hand tools here to work on it so I wonder if I should/could drive it home. I'd put a half dozen gallon bottles of coolant in the trunk and even if I had to top up the radiator every half hour, it wouldn't be too bad. If I removed the radiator cap, would that help much in reducing the leakage? I checked the engine temperature for 15 minutes straight and it was a steady 196F at 65mph in 80F weather. Does this year have camel mode? If so that would be reassuring.

[dkozloski]

The water pump is at the back of the engine so it's something else leaking. Removing the cap is going to increase chances of the water pump cavitating and causing more problems. I'd verify where it's leaking. It may only take a couple of minutes with a boyscout knife to fix it. In a position similar to yours, I went to the nearest WalMart, bought a cheap toolset and a flashlight, tinkered up the problem, and had a nice trip home.

[submariner409]

On a sidewinder N* the only water on the passenger (crank pulley) side is the water outlet hose (easy) which runs across behind the underhood front plastic trim cover (??97??) and the right side radiator tank (sux).

[JimD]

I would dose that cooling system up with 3 or 4 tubes of Bars Leaks Golden Seal powder (placed in either the inlet or outlet hose at the water pump) and drive the thing home.

In fact, I had to do just that two weeks ago when I was 1,000 miles from my tools. Developed a leak in the water pump area that was losing a 1/2 gallon of coolant every 300 miles. Made it home just fine. And that was with a plastic driver's window after some low-life broke into my car the previous night. A weekend to remember.

[Ranger]

I first, second and third all of the above.

[Cadillacboy]

Camel mode ....That's totally new to me