First off I must say I love these forums! I have been a lurker for quite some time but now I'm ready to start asking my questions...

On to my question...

I was recently informed by my mechanic that I have a very small leak coming from my water pump, along with the news i was explained that it is very important to not let the rover overheat considering the amount of damage i could do to my engine. It will be a couple weeks until I can swap out the pump and I was just curious if there is anything I should keep an eye on in the meantime. My coolant level seems to be ok although im not exactly sure if a leaky water pump would affect my coolant. Im a bit of a newbie to the disco and would hate to cause any unwanted damage to my car by simply not paying attention to a minor detail or two. A little heads up as to what i should look for would be greatly appreciated..thanks in advance!

 

Yes, a leaking water pump will impact your coolant level. A couple times a week, before starting your engine in the mornings, fill you coolant bottle all the way to the lid, not the cold or hot line.
Make sure to put some Water Wetter or Purple Ice in with your coolant when replacing your water pump.
What year is your truck, how many miles
Consider replacing your t/stat and upper hoses if you have gone to the up graded hoses.

 

Thanks for the reply mike.

It's a 98 disco that just crossed the 120,000 mile mark.
When you say fill the coolant bottle to the top of the lid do you actually mean clear to the top? When i flip through the manual (i know i know ) about coolant levels it informs me it needs to be to the top of the x when i look inside. sorry for the confusion, i would just hate to fill it to high and blow something due to the high pressure. if you could explain the cold or hot lines it would clear it up for me...like i said, im a newbie.

 

What Mike is suggesting is that you fill it until you cant fit any more coolant in so that when it leaks out you wont run low.
LR recommends filling only to the "X" because the hot coolant needs room to expand.
That is what I would do.
If the leak was huge then I would do what Mike said.
The water pump is what pumps the coolant through the engine, when it leaks you will loose coolant.
If you overheat the engine you WILL be buying a new engine.
Do like Mike said and check the coolant level every 2 days when the truck is cold.
You can top off with just plain old water as all the coolant will be replaced when the water pump is replaced.
Also change all of your coolant hoses, both upper and lower as well as the heater lines.
If you dont and they burst you will run the risk of overheating your engine and will then need to replace your coolant all over again.
Replacing the thermostat at this time is also a good thing to do as again when you replace it you will need new coolant.
So do it all at once and be done with it.
www.atlanticbritish.com if your mechaninc cant get the hoses.

 

How is your fan clutch doing? with 120K, you may consider replacing it while you have everything apart. If it seizes and runs your fan at high RPM, it will desitegrate into the radiator.

I agree with Spike on replacing the hoses as well..

 

Ahh it all makes sense now. The leak coming from the water pump is very small, so small that I can barely notice a drop in the coolant tank. My mech. informed me that it's something I should keep an eye on until I can get it fixed. Seeing that im not really losing much coolant Im planning on keeping it on the x like you recommended spike. If the leak worsens and i start dropping coolant fast I will take Mikes approach......Wow, I love these forums.
-discoguy, From what i can tell the fan clutch is functioning just fine. What you told me I will keep in mind. Thats the last thing I need

 

When you do repalce your water pump do not use a ProLine brand pump, they have a higher than normal failuer rate.
But you dont need to use a LR pump either.

 

FYI,

Get a new clutch just for peace of mind, especially at that mileage. About 5k miles ago my clutch did sieze and blew up. Needed a new radiator and a ton of work including head gaskets. Parts list was enourmous. Fortunatly I saved hundreds by doing it myself.