Water pump problem

GeorgeGN · #1 (**permalink**) 02-18-03, 10:47 PM

Hi all, I have a 93 Seville STS I bought a few months back. It has a 130K on the speedo and seems to run real good.
Its developed an anti freeze leak.I brought it in and was told it needed a water-pump. After it was taken apart they called me into the bay. It definitely don't look like a small block Chevy pump.. Anyway I'm told whoever put the last pump in,did't do it right.I was shown a special tool for removing/replacing it.. One of the tabs that hold it in was busted off.. The mechanic said he never saw that before and I would have to say it looks like an expensive job. Any ideas or thoughts??/ Thanks George

kcnewell · #2 (**permalink**) 02-19-03, 03:38 PM

Is the tab on the block or the pump body? If it's on the block you'll have to go through some real crap to get it fixed!...Unless, you can find a GOOD guy that can weld aluminum that can get in there and build you a new tab. Don't laugh guys! I have a guy that does this sort of work for me and has saved me a lot of headaches over the years! It is not easy nor is it cheap! He req'd us to remove the engine and bring it to his shop! We did the job in my friends home shop. ( Took it out from the bottom! ) And it must be done correctly and finished correctly to insure NO LEAKS! But IT CAN BE DONE! He did one on my friends '94 N/S who tried to put in his own water pump with the wrong tools and called me when he got in trouble. It's been 2 years and no problems!

Good luck with it.

GeorgeGN · #3 (**permalink**) 02-19-03, 04:38 PM

Hi they gummed it up good with silicone and let it sit over night.Put it back together this morning..Pressure tested it and then let it run at idle for an hour..No leaks.. Maybe I got lucky..That sure would be for a change.
I like the car alot. Its that white pearl with factory chrome rims, I always was partial to that color and I liked the 3rd brake light across the corner of the trunk lid..
Not liking some of the stuff I'm hearing about oil+Northstar stuff.
It didnt look like any easy way out on that job..
Thanks George

Katshot · #4 (**permalink**) 02-19-03, 04:57 PM

I'm assuming this is a Northstar since you're talking special tools and mounting tabs. Anyway, at the worst, you'd have to replace the pump housing. Matter of fact, some early ones like yours REQUIRE that the housing be replaced in order to mount a new pump due to a re-design of the pump. You can get around thai by using a rebuilt pump but if you use a NEW pump, you MAY need the new housing anyway. They can run your VIN and tell you if you need one.
As for relying on RTV to hold on your pump, I don't think I would go that way but it's your money.

kcnewell · #5 (**permalink**) 02-19-03, 08:15 PM

I'd have to agree with katshot on this, Not a big fan of RTV! Sound like you dodged the bullet though ( Fingers crossed ) On the Northstar oil consumption thing....It's just the design of the thing that lets it consume a little more oil than we're used to these days. I wouldn't let that bother me in the least!

jadcock · #6 (**permalink**) 02-20-03, 08:19 PM

I've gotta replace my water pump soon. I bought the tool off eBay for 30 bucks. I don't see how you could do it without it! I've heard that changing the water pump is about an hour job. I'll go slow and check things out as I go, hopefully if I get a chance to change it on Sunday.

It's been slowly leaking since December. We've driven it about 3000 miles since it started -- it's a slow leak though. Since it started leaking, I've never had to add coolant and the low coolant level message hasn't come up yet.

It doesn't leak under pressure. Only when it's NOT under pressure does it leak. How's that for weird? It'll only leak after sitting overnight. You can drive it or let it run all day with nary a drop!

Katshot · #7 (**permalink**) 02-22-03, 04:37 PM

I got NEW INFO guys!!!!
I dug up some info on how to know if you have the OLD design pump housing, or the NEW design. It seems that the OLD design housings were "BLACK", and the NEW design housings are "SILVER".
So hopefully this plays out totally correct and if you have a silver housing, you're ok.

Captsolo · #8 (**permalink**) 06-17-06, 01:09 PM

I have a 1993 Eldorado 4.6 liter. People that read this are gonna criticize what I say now. I changed the coolent a few years ago and found a leak by my water pump. After purchasing a new pump and surfing the net, I found somewhere that from the factory Cadillac adds an "radiator sealer" to the coolent on their brand new cars. I added some to my leaking Caddy water pump and the leaking stopped.

My feeling is I caused the problem when I had the GM dealer changed the coolent. They didn't know about Cadillac adding something (Aluminum something) to coolent from factory.

Anyway, the car has been running for 4 years without that leaking problem.

Don't believe me, but if you changed your coolent recently - that's what caused your leak.

As you all know, once a "regular waterpump" starts to leak, you have to replace it. But a Cadillac waterpump on the 4.6 litre Northstar is anything but a "standard" water pump.

Mine's been in there for 13 year (from new) and still pumping without failure!

Captsolo · #9 (**permalink**) 06-17-06, 01:12 PM

I have a 1993 Eldorado. People that read this are gonna criticize what I say now. I changed the coolent a few years ago and after that found a leak by my water pump. After purchasing a new pump and surfing the net, I found somewhere that from the factory Cadillac adds a "radiator sealer" to the coolent on their brand new cars. I added some to my leaking Caddy/water pump and the leaking stopped.

My feeling is I caused the problem when I had the GM dealer change the coolent. They didn't know about Cadillac adding something (Aluminum something) to coolent from factory.

Anyway, the car has been running for 4 years without that leaking water pump problem.

Don't believe me, but if you changed your coolent - and the water pump started leaking - that's what caused your leak.