Bad water pump or hose?
 

Hi guys,

I have a 2004 RX-8 with only ~38,000 miles.

Been about a couple months now, but I noticed very small puddles or antifreeze on the garage floor in the mornings. So, last week I took the car into the dealer. Immediately, he diagnoses it as a bad water pump and wants about $300 for replacement...

Thing I notice is, when I look at the upper and lower radiator hoses, I notice that there's dried-up crusty green substance (from antifreeze probably) where it connects into the engine. It's often becomes wet at times.

This leads me to believe it's the hoses that need replacement and not the water pump. Maybe the hoses are ballooning or the clamps aren't tight enough. Car's only got 38k miles...

I often drive it hard and temps are always within range and I haven't overheated (knock on wood).

What's your guys' thoughts on this? Nice to have some opinions. Is it normal to have the green crusty antifreeze at the end of the hoses??

Thanks!

pics would help. if you do replace the pump, i would recommend the mazmart tstat and wp

its probably the hose, if it was the waterpump it would overheat, and or see it leaking out of the gasket or weep hole. If you replace the hoses becareful the hoses that connect to the radiator are plastic and can become brittle. My hose replacement instantly became a radiator/waterpump/t-stat replacement. taking out the radiator is a pain might as well do the rest.

Take some pictures of the fresh leaks if they repro the next time you drive, it would help us see what you're talking about. You don't want to beat around the bush when it comes to coolant issues though, the last thing you want is an overheated engine

Jumping in this really quick, is replacing the water pump on this car as easy as it looks?

Thanks for the reply, guys.
I attached a pic of the radiator hose and circled it. You can see the dried up antifreeze buildup on the end of the hose. Again, because of this, I think the problem is the hose, not the water pump...

http://home.comcast.net/~pham.david/radiator2.jpg

That looks like a loose connection to me. Check to see if there is any wiggle room or any cracks/ ruptures out of sight.

Exact issue, picture could be my car. . . told it was the pump, price quoted was $350.00 out the door. I was getting fifty cent piece sized puddles, but not every day.

If it is the pump you will see it leaking out of the weep hole. It could leak down there I suppose..but it could just as easily be the hose/clamp is leaking. Clean it up and see where it leaks from. I have a coupke of pumps if you want. One new and a couple of good ones with about 15k miles on them. I think you are local??

More or less. . . Silverdale. I will clean up the pump and hoses and see if I can confirm where the drip originates. I also have a chronic SSV problem which is going to require replacement I'm afraid. I had it out and cleaned last year and it started tossing cels again last week. Will probably do that 1st because it really affects driveability. Appreciate the offer and I'll get back to you.

just change the hose yourself, it's freaking easy and cheap.

new clamp too.

and it's easy to tell if it's water pump, check the weep hole.

my friends car did this, and i thought it was going to be the water pump too, but we actually LOOKED at the pump (they do go bad), it was dry, so we decided to change the upper hose, as it was wet and crusty like yours.

well when we took it apart it was obviously leaking around the thermostat too, so we had to replace that as well.

the moral of the story, the thermostat/hose area needs to be looked at pretty carefully, its covered by the air control valve pretty well.

Coolant drips
 

So the bottom of fuel pump looks like fluid is coming from area just above that bolt.
Is that the weep hole to the right of the green blob?

The hose leak seems like it was old. . . green is gummy,