coolant leak, water pump?

This started when we had some cold weather and sleet/snow, then a snap of single digits, etc.

I shut off my car and smelled coolant, but due to inclement weather said screw it and went in my house. Few days later I smelled it again, and decided to pop the hood, I saw steam coming from the passenger side of the engine.

It doesnt seem to be coming from any of the hoses, all of the hoses were dry, the coolant was all over the lower side of the radiator, the passenger control arm, even the battery.

Im thinking its probably the water pump, as the hoses seem to be intact, but I cant actually see it leaking anywhere, seems to be something happening slowly, every couple days I get a low coolant light.

I know the 3.8 engines have a couple different plastic elbow pieces that are prone to leaking, but I dont believe the 3.5 has any such things does it?

My guess is water pump, but Ive never seen a diagram of the cooling lines, nor have I torn into the thing yet. While on the topic of water pumps, does anyone know if any of the ones RockAuto sells come with a gasket or not? I assume the pulley is re-usable.

Why guess here, a simple pressure test will reveal the source, basic diagnostics.

At the risk of sounding dumb, (wouldnt be the first time) where could I get one of those? Is it something an auto parts store would rent?

Also, are they designed to work on a system like the Intrigue has which lacks a traditional style radiator cap.


Also, I popped the hood today and everything was dry after the car had been sitting all day. I drove over to my parents house, and when I popped the hood I noticed the passenger side CV boot had some moisture on it, and I saw a drip when it was running, that looked like it came from the overflow tank, but I couldnt duplicate it again.

To make matters worse, my daily 5 miles of gravel road is extremely wet and muddy right now, so its hard to distinguish whats coolant and whats not.

Autozone may rent them, a complete kit is about 70-$80, yes they have an adapter for the closed system also in the better ones.

When it does it again, keep the engine running and have a look for the steam leak. If you cannot see it, be very careful of moving parts and quickly pass your hand near the steam leak to see if you can pin point it that way. Be careful though. Steam is very powerful and can burn you.

Mines doing the exact same thing and I know for sure that its the water pump. What I don't know is if there is a hose that also may be leaking. If you ever take your car for a coolant flush and refill, they also do a pressure test. Generally, its pretty cheap, so you may be able to get it checked somewhere for under $50. That way you dont have to deal with guessing where there's a leak. I keep telling myself that I will take my intrigue in and get a coolant service, but this time of year I never get a chance.

Yeah, Im fairly certain mine is the WP as well, I just really havent slowed down long enough to do much diagnosing. Oddly enough it seems to be related to temperature.

During those 2 60 degree days we had, it didnt seem to leak much, but now its back in the 20s (I love Missouri) and its doing it again.

I checked it before I left work tonight and things seemed pretty dry, a spot or two underneath the car. Drove it about 10 miles and pulled over and things were soaked, but it seemed to originate from the WP. The air from movement seems to throw coolant everywhere. I plan on finding a cold day and just letting it idle at operating temp for a while to see what happens.


I just replaced the coolant not long ago during a thermostat change (which by the way is doing great in these cold temps) and I really cant afford 50 bucks for someone to tell me where its leaking, then turn around and spend 70 on a WP.

What's crazy is I just jumped in this forum to look up this very same problem, and low and behold, there's a thread at the top of the list.

I've been experiencing coolant loss in my '98 Series II that has gotten pretty rapid the past couple weeks. I'm not sure if it's the intake gasket problem or a water pump, but looking at the water pump, I see some residual coolant around the gasket.

I would think if it were the intake gasket leaking, that either the car would idle/run crappy due to burning coolant, or if it were getting into the crankcase, I would have milkshake oil, which I do not. It's running just fine.

The car has 186,000 miles on it, so I would think it may be time for a water pump. I don't think it's ever been replaced.

Any more feedback?

Well, I do believe I fixed it, as some may recall I replaced the thermostat not long ago. In my efforts not to over tighten the housing bolts, I didnt get them tight enough, and they worked loose (im sure the gravel roads dont help that at all). I had squeezed the lower rad hose before and tugged it a little, but I finally gave it a nice hard pull and saw coolant squirt out from around the housing.

I tightened 'em up good and we'll see what happens. Although now my WP is making more noise than usual, its either that or the alternator, cant tell exactly, Im sure dumping coolant on them routinely hasnt helped haha.


Thanks for bearing with me, I hope that fixed it.

when my water pump started leaking i could not see any coolant on the ground, it turns out it was collecting under the engine somewhere and blowing away on the highway. I finally realized it was the water pump when i seen my belt had sprayed a straight line of coolant on the insulation under my hood, and once it heated up i could see little droplets flying off the water pump from the bearing and onto the pulley...for anybody who needs to to this job its not too hard. Basically nuts and bolts, just make sure you get all the old gasket material off, and be sure not to scratch or gouge the surface when scraping off the old gasket or it will leak. You will also need to remove the power steering pump (you can get at the bolts for that through the pulley with an extension)...And be sure to properly purge the air out of the cooling system (as per the owners manual) to avoid nasty sludging of dexcool antifreeze..

Are you sure you need to remove the power steering pump for the 3.5? That is not part of the procedure according to various texts. It is for the 3.8, not the 3.5 though. It looks like the water pump will come off with just a removed pulley, removed idler, and loosened belt.

your right...i have the 3.8, its a bit different (and possibly easier) for the 3.5

Well, I swapped on a new water pump yesterday and topped the system off with coolant. Then as of today on my way back from picking up lunch the low coolant light came on again. So I dont think the waterpump was the issue, despite seeing residual coolant in the area.

I'm afraid it's leaking from elswhere now. Possibly a freeze plug or something? Do these motors have that problem?

Did you bleed the system out? I had a similar problem after I tightened up those bolts, coolant light would come on, Id top it off, drive a couple days, it would come on again, no coolant outside the engine, rinse and repeat a couple times, now its finally stopped.

I figured driving around with the housing loose like that introduced a lot of air into the system, which I didnt think to purge out until just the other day.

I have to agree with the purging issue being a scarey false leak. When I bought my car, I kept loosing fluid. I was thinking, "Man, after a tranny replacement, what else could go wrong?"

I found the black wedge on the passenger side of the radiator. It is black like the radiator. Maybe 2" in diameter. Turned it 1/2-3/4 of a turn and started the car. It took several minutes and began to see water escape on the floor of the garage. Pulled it out to the gravel driveway and ran it a while longer. Closed the valve. Came back next morning, topped off the resevoir to exactly the fill mark for cold. Drove a regular day. I checked the level for three days (every morning before I started the engine) and the level hasn't moved in two months!

Try purging the system, you might be very happy with the results! :lol2:

I have an 3.8 and had same problems. Found out that plastic intake manifold is the culprit and you won't see the leak because the fluid is slowly getting burned. I mean leaking into the cylinders.My motor was dry and and no leaks or sounds from WP. I was told the is common for these motors with any mileage on them. Part about $175.00 from parts store, labor charges were the bitch.