how do i know if my waterpump has failed? im having overheating issues, but tommorow im going to flush and replace thermostat and rad cap. and flush out heater core. i dont have low coolant levels so i hope the flush will do the trick,meaning no bad intake,head gaskets! if this dont work could it be the pump? i took the thermostat out and turned on engine and looked into the block,didnt see anything flowing,engine got hot still nothing,made me think about pump. any help or ideas are needed!!!! oh its a '99 with 130k

 

I had the water pump go bad on my old firebird and my blazer. Both time they just started leaking anti freeze really bad. Not sure if they all start leaking when they go bad, but that was it in my case.

 

First off, welcome to the forum. I am pretty new to it myself, but there are a lot of helpful people here.

If you ran it without the thermostat on and coolant didn't come pouring out, it sounds like the pump is bad.

More information would help a lot. How hot is it getting, does your heater work, is there any leaking coolant? I know you said that you don't have low coolant levels, but is it dripping at all when the engine is at operating temp? If the water pump is bad it will usually drip out of the weep hole.

 

didnt notice a drip, a friend said he seen it coming out of weep hole but not very much. the temp wuold get to 210 or so sitting still then last night drove for 2 miles peaked at 260 and check light came on

 

It doesn't have to be leaking a lot out of that weep hole. Go get a new pump and throw it in. If your friend saw even a drip, it needs to be replaced. Don't drive it anymore, overheating like that wreaks havoc on head gaskets and blocks. Replace the thermostat and flush it while you are at it. I just looked at your profile and it is 37 degrees in Richmond. Not ideal temp for this work, but better than -5 up here in Minnesota!

 

ok thnx for the imfo . you think maybe after i get all the mud looking stuff out of the system the pump may work better as well as the rest of the system, reason being i dont really want to do the wrk to replace pump!! but i should stop being lazy and get it done. any pointers on install? guess illl use the search button

 

I haven't replaced one on my Blazer yet. I just did one on my Toyota pickup and it sounds like it is easier than the Blazer. I found this thread that went over the basic stuff to do.

https://blazerforum.com/m_4012/tm.htm