what is the purpose of weep holes and how do they work?

to show when pump bearings are starting to fail.play gives exessive clearance on seals so water seeps out.

mech is correct. The weep holes should be dry always. If they seep, the pump needs replacement.

thanks, about two weeks ago, i start to leak coolent and there was a very loud sqealing noise coming from the front of my engine(at first i thought my timing chain finally was going to break). when i got home i found coolent was leaking out of the weep holes so i replaced the pump anyway.