just ordered a airtex STC4378X
water pump today, but iv noticed a small amount of yellowy past coming out from the fittings on the T on the top rad hose.

also, when doing the water pump, are there a few of the bolts that need to have a sealant applied to them?

hopefully i can get the lower hose off the water pump, because when i did the hoses back in march i just ended up cutting off the hose from the water pump. it deff does not slide off as easily as the hoses that were mated to the plastic fittings.


the car had green coolant in the system when i bought it and i ran probably 10 gallons of distilled water threw the system when i did new hoses and the soft spring thermostat. i then put in the walmarts supertech 50/50 in and been driving it like that sins march. with the blue tooth scanner and watching my temps iv never been over 206 and almost all driving conditions its around 188 to 194.

everything seems to be working fine. i did change the clutch and fan out last month for a fan clutch from autozone and the $25 ford fan from autozone as well. when installing the new fan, i did notice more play in the water pump shaft then in march when i did the hoses. from march to like june or July did i notice a small amount of coolant loss so i topped off the reservoir. then i added more a month or so later. each time i probably added about 16oz or less to top off the system.

 

Don't ever let the engine get low on coolant.

Pump replacement is not that hard.
Getting off the lower hose is a bear.

Maybe best to replace the lower hose.

Maybe put Aviation gasket sealer on the water pump gasket and that's about it.

Make sure all the bolts are tightened in a pattern to assure you don;t crack the water pump casting.

 

Airtex water pump showed up this evening. just need to get it installed. thinking i will run some preston cleaner threw the system and try a different coolant then the supertech 50/50 i was using. thinking of getting the pink G12 stuff i use in my jetta. i know iv read some have used blue coolant from Mercedez or BMW as well.

any thoughts?

 

?????

 

I use the blue BMW coolant, Zerex G48. Designed for plastic and aluminium cooling systems of BMWs..and the Rover.

No thread sealant, just make sure you use a star pattern, 18ft lb of torque! Very important on the 11mm bolts, theres a water passage behind the front cover that will leak into the crankcase if not correctly torqued.

I would honestly replace the front cover gasket at the same time, they do leak, and I have mistaken a front cover leak for a water pump.

Most difficult part of that ordeal is honestly the main bolt. I have just had luck with using my stubby impact driver, usually spins them out fairly easily.

Or, use a screw driver in the inspection port in the bellhousing to catch the flywheel. Don't sit against the ring gear teeth, or flex plate. It's not on there too tight at all.