Water pump leaking when hot?

[Lars]

Hello everyone,

This weekend, while waiting in line at the border for close to an hour, the man in the car behind me told me I was leaking antifreeze. Indeed I was. The car was running hotter during that extended period, but not too hot (halfway between 175F mark and next mark). It was dribbling steadily, leaving a 4 inch puddle in 2-3 minutes. It seemed to be coming from the water pump. This was at the beginning of a 600 mile weekend. We bought 3 gallons of antifreeze and drove on. Funny thing is, we barely lost, if any, antifreeze during the rest of the trip.

Could it be that the rise in temperature while idling caused coolant to weep out of the water pump weep hole due to a seal going bad, while normal driving at normal temperatures, everything is normal? It would seem to me that a water pump seal going bad would leak all the time, and not only when hot. Maybe I'm wrong.

Thanks for your help.

[barry123400]

I could visulize the engine getting hot enough while waiting in line to pressure up the coolant a little. The slight extra pressure may have overcome the seal. Just my opinion but a solid indication the pump needs changed anyways.

[pawoSD]

My old pump weeped like that too (just it did it all the time) from the little weep hole as the bearings were failing....it sounded like a tin can clattering around when running. Upon removing it, I found I could barely turn the thing by hand! New one spun smooth and freely and upon installing it the clattering can noise was completely gone and so were my leaks.