Saturday, March 21, 2009

The Camaro, She Torments Me


My wife got a call yesterday from someone who wants to look at the Camaro and possibly buy it. This is glad news.

What she didn't know was that the day before, I'd run the engine just to keep things charged and lubricated and whatnot, and steam had issued forth. As near as I can tell, the water pump shaft seal let go and coolant is coming out of the weep hole (I can't wait to see what the Google searches look like for the next week now that I have "weep hole" typed here. Twice.) My Bride is picking up a water pump in Springfield today and then we'll see.

I HOPE it's the water pump, because that actually seems pretty straightforward on this model. Last time I was losing coolant, it was a freeze plug, and that one cost me some bucks at a Chevy dealership. If this is the water pump, it's a shade-tree solution.

5 comments:

Mulligan said...

don't overlook the google-ness of pump, shaft and lubricated.

I'm replacing a waterpump on my truck this week myself.

Don said...

Lubricated shaft weep hole pump?

It's all so very wrong.

I'm not back online because I finished and decided to have a beer, dear internet friends. I'm back online because the power steering pump bracket has to come off before the water pump can, and the entire set of directions in the Haynes manual for that removal are, I swear to Allah:

1. Remove pump pulley using common pulling tool available at most auto stores.

(OK, done, that was not so bad.)

2. Remove power steering pump bolts.

(Uh, I only see one, but . . .OK.)

3. Remove bracket.

(Right, but the TITLE of this section is "Power Steering Pump--Removal. If I didn't know that much, I couldn't even have looked it up in your stupid book. HOW do I remove the bracket? I've now removed six bolts, one of which was not visible until I made a pretty close inspection, and the thing isn't budging. Save me, Google!)

Don said...

Found it! There were TWO bolts hiding behind the coil packs. So, if you're keeping score at home, here's what you have to remove to change the water pump on a 3.4L V6:

1. Serpentine belt.
2. Belt tensioner.
3. Power steering bracket (This requires pulling the power steering pump pulley, but, oddly enough, not the pump itself.)
4. Coil packs (and about three dozen assorted wires, hoses and plugs.)

The good news is that the buyer stopped by while I had the thing in pieces, and he wants it. I figure anyone who can roll up on that scene and still make an offer is in the right frame of mind. But, hey, he knows he won't have to replace a water pump anytime soon, doesn't he?

Anonymous said...

Don,
Reminds me of the '68 Galaxie I had while in college. Had to remove the right front fender to replace heater hoses.

Anonymous said...

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