Water pump seizing up?

[bradley]

On my 1gb Eclipse GSX, I was told the head gasket may be bad. So I get it home, I bled the cooling system, and it did okay. With the rad cap off, sitting there running, no real bubbling up or anything, just a few tiny bubbles here and there. Compression test, it was a bit low but reasonable enough to think that it was still not blown. (within 15 of each other around 125)

I noticed a water leak once the temp got warmer, around the bottom of the radiator near the IC side. I think the bottom hose isn't seating right. No biggie, fix it.

I drove it today about 2 miles just to see what it would do, did alright at speed but slow down to pull in my driveway and the temp warms up a bit. Not past the inside mark on the top but still, up a bit. After I park, give it the beans a bit and it seems to jump back down to halfway.

So I shut it off, let it cool down, pop the rad cap, fill it up with water, start it up again... After letting it run for a minute, bump it up to about 5k. POP! There goes my alt/water pump belt.

I pop the hood, pull out the broken belt and notice the underside is worn down as if it had been rubbing against a pulley that wasn't moving as fast as the rest. So I check around... the water pump (still has the belt going to the P/S) is a little tough to turn. Not like, *grunt* tough but more of a "I think this bearing is going out" tough.

Could this be the cause of my overheating problems after all? I've never had a water pump go out on me before. How hard is it to change?

 

[AllShallPerish]

See if you can rotate it by hand.

As for your comperssion, its really low. You should do a leakdown test to see where its going...

 

[dented_coffee]

try rotating by had like he stated. If the water pump s bad it will not turn properly. If it free spins with no resistance at all then the seals are bad and so are the bearings. If it is dringish or hard to turn by slight movement then the bearings are shot. Bad seals will drain coolant from the neck of the pump by the pullie threw the small holes. Them holes are there to tell if its bad s a warning that its leaking past the seals.

I just replaced mine and I had to take the timing cover off, timing belt, alt tensioner arm, a/c tensioner, crank pully, inner and outter water pump pullies. It didnt take long whit the engine out of the car. If you have the engine in the car then it could take a few hours or so I'm guessing because the tight space to work in between the timing cover and frame.

Before you install your new water pump make sure that you place the gasket on it and put it on a flat surface to make sure the pump fins don't rub the engine block. I had to return a waater pump because of that.

 

[bradley]

Alright well as I already said in my first post, it's a little hard to turn. If I'm going to have to pull the timing belt and all may as well slap a new head gasket on too because it needs it (140k+ and never had one to my knowledge).

Thanks.