Are you still driving the car? If the water pump comes apart you will be replacing your radiator. I would not drive it until it is repaired.
Never had a water pump come apart or heard of one but then I always fixed it before it might have happened
I had it happen to me in a Ford truck on my way home from the Columbus All Ford Swap Meet many years ago. I nursed it all the way home...and made it to my driveway. Fan was beating the tar out of the shroud!!
Harold has one at the shop for repair that is wobbling to the point it's hitting the shroud... not leaking a drop...
If run long enough with coolant getting into pump bearing, it can seize and all sorts of ugly stuff can happen... With any leak I always loosen radiator cap... Without pressure, leak usually stops or at least reduced by 90%... With loose cap some engines(actually radiator designs) will push coolant out filler but usually a equalization point is reached... Sooo it runs maybe a pint low but loses very little after that point... Because of a weep in one of the radiator tanks, I ran a 4.6 Grand Marquis for probably four years with loose cap, added maybe a pint per year(that was due to evaporation)... One day it was rather low, looking around yep the water pump was leaking... Like one Frank mentioned the fan would wobble it was so bad... Yikes! I replaced pump but left cap loose, we ran it another year or so before I found it a new home...
I've only been driving it sort distances around town to pick up the last few few supplies I need. Pretty soon it'll be parked and I'll be walking everywhere.
I got the water pump off. Everything went smoothly. The whole side of the engine is quite messy. The pulleys have been flinging the coolant all over the place for awhile now. The bolts look mildly rusty, but there's one that concerns me. It feels like a few of the threads have been stripped, and some of the threads are packed with rust. The bolt head looks mangled, so I imagine someone had problems with it. I tried to get the clearest photo of it that I could. Is there any sort of preparation I should do to the bolt hole? This one goes into the block and it was right next to the leaky port. Another thing I was wondering about, is the the timing cover is powder coated. A lot people recommend cleaning it with break cleaner, but I'm afraid of it being too harsh. I'd hate to have the paint start rubbing off. Any recommendations here?
I'm reading some humor in that statement,,,LOL I have never seen a cover painted on the inside... I would replace at least that bolt. you may want to run a thread chaser in the bolt holes to clean out the threads. the cover is aluminum so if any paint comes off it want rust. note...that is the cruddiest running engine I have ever seen...
The missing threads have rusted away, the ones that were actually threaded into block are still there... As Frank suggested would be a good idea to replace it, possibly could shear off when tightened... Get some brake cleaner and blast away... So the paint comes off, wasn't painted from factory when new...
when you go to get the new waterpump take the old one with you. this way you stand a better chance of getting the same one. check the snout (where the fan bolts on) make sure it's the same as the old one. make sure the new pump has the impeller... also take a wire brush and clean the gasket surface clean, clean, clean. I would try and get all the blue paint from inside the cover. back flush the heater hoses, radiator and block. go back with at least a 50/50 mix of antifreeze. put anti seize on the threads when reinstalling the bolts. main thing...have fun doing it...
The water pump should have a rear cover plate that held on by two bolts, plus the ones that hold pump... There should be no coolant flow into inner painted area of timing cover, makes no difference if it is/isn't painted...
the reason I mention the...impeller...someone posted they bought and installed a pump that didn't work. when removed and checked...it had no impeller.
I got a set of APR bolts that I plan to use, and a plug tap for the bolt holes. It appears that I got the right set, which is kind of amazing. It seemed like such a crap shoot ordering all the parts. Especially when I'm not clear as to what block is in there. All my parts appear to go together. Now I'm at the part were I'm scraping and scrubbing everything down forever. The brake cleaner does rub the paint off, so I went with simple green. The level of grunge is impressive.
