Leaking antifreeze, no heat,water pump possibly?
 

Hello all, so after i had already spent over a thousand dollars in repairs, yet another one comes up.

I have a 98 blazer ls, 4 door, 4wd. Now for the past 6months to a year i have had a slight antifreeze leak from time to time. I was never able to track it down but it was always on the front part of the engine, and was usually found on the metal plate where the oil filter is (sorry dont know what this is called).

Just a couple days ago i started it up and it didnt sound right. I noticed it wasnt just leaking antifreeze but almost pouring. i dont believe it is from any of the hoses, but i may be wrong. Im going to crawl under it tomorrow, but i wanted to post and see if anyone had any ideas? Or at least a place to start looking?

so far for symptoms..

-i have little to no heat
-the thermostat warms up to the normal operating point fairly quickly, like within minutes
-When i came home tonight and parked, i heard the coolant make an odd sound. It sounded like it couldve been draining or bubbling out, not sure.

tomorrow i'll take a look around and post updates, but would appreciate someone pointing me in the right direction

Cracked heater core?

i could be wrong but isnt the heater core up against the firewall or close to it? my leak is originating from the front of the engine compartment

Lower intake manifold gaskets are a very common problem on this engine. They can leak at the front on the intake, behind the alternator, and behind the AC compressor. But if coolant is dripping onto the remote oil filter mount, check the radiator & water pump. On the bottom of the water pump, just behind the flange for the fan, there is a hole, if the seal leaks, coolant will come out the hole.

okay thats what I was thinking too. and thats what i was hoping for. im sure i can replace a water pump myself, but i do not want to even attempt that manifold gasket. I'll check it out tomorrow, thanks for the reply.

edit:

whats the best way to get in there and check it out? should i remove that plate below the oil filter and go from there, or should i go from the top and start by pulling out the fan shroud?

Check on your water pump. That happened on my '95 S10 Blazer LT.

The bubbling or gurgling sound is when the coolant level drops, you get air pockets in the radiator hoses and heater core and such, and the coolant gurgles like that as it's moving through the system.

It's easier to see the hole on the water pump from the bottom looking up, but if you need to replace the pump, you have to take the upper fan shroud off. The lower plastic shield doesn't need to come off to replace the pump. I use a mirror on a stick and a flashlight and look down to find the leak. Don't want to make any more work than necessary ;)

okay so i confirmed it was the water pump and went out and bought one today. Heres the problem though

I feel like i have tried everything, and i cannot break the nut between the fan and the pulley loose. Is there an alternate way of doing this? An idea I had was to remove the serpentine belt first, then instead of removing the fan next, unbolting the whole pulley from the water pump. Looks like theres only 4 bolts i need to worry about. It looks like it might be a pain in the rear, but is this reasonable, and would it work?

I had that problem too. There is a special tool set that makes this much, much easier. Wherever you bought the water pump, you might see if they have the tools to loan/rent. The one I got looks a lot like this:

Amazon.com: BMW GM Fan Clutch Nut Wrench Water Pump Hub Holder Tool: Automotive

When I was much younger and more into self-torture, I didn't have these tools and ended up taking off the whole pulley. I had to remove the oil cooler, I believe...maybe even the radiator? Whichever, it was a major pain. Borrow the special tools...your sanity will thank you.