Good afternoon all.

I seem to be having multiple issues with my truck.

First I see a lot of oil buildup under the truck, I think it is related to the oil filter that Jiffy Lube put on. It was almost a whole turn loose. I am pretty sure that is fixed, although the filter itself looks too small. There is a 1/8" space all the way around where the filter is installed. I am not sure if this is standard or not.

After this I had a leaky radiator. I bought a bottle of Bar's Leaks and tried that first, but that did not do the trick. I ended up ordering a new radiator and also replaced the upper hose.
Now I have another water leak. All of my research tells me that it could be the water pump gasket or the pump itself. It does not seem to difficult to replace.
I am sure someone was watching out for me, because I went to check the truck out yesterday and the radiator was almost empty and the reservoir was bone dry. I am sure I was close to overheating.

My question(s).
Could the Bar's leaks have done something inside the pump that made this issue happen?
Can I just replace the pump gasket, or should I buy the pump as well?

Thanks in advance,
Dave.

 

Always replace a water pump with a leak, whether it is the gasket or the pump.

Bars or other "stop leak" products won't cause leaks.
These products are used to get you out of a jam, not to fix a leak permanently, leak will get bigger and will start leaking again.
They should be flushed out as soon as you can find and fix the leak.
They won't "clog up the system", that's a popular myth
BUT(big but),......On older systems the particles in the "stop leak" can clog already narrowed radiator or heater core passages, so shorten their life unless flushed out sooner than later.

Common leak on the 4.0l OHV is intake gasket just above the water pump, passenger side or at the rear drivers side.
That is where coolant passes thru the intake from one head to the other.

You can buy a UV(ultra violet) dye kit with UV flash light for under $25.
You put the dye in the coolant then drive the vehicle till it is warmed up, so dye is mixed.
Then shut down engine and look for leak with flash light.
Works for oil leaks and transmission leaks as well


You can also rent cooling system pressure tester kits, it is a gauge and a hand pump that fits on rad cap opening.
You pump up the system to say 20psi, cold engine, and then see if pressure starts dropping, if it does you do have a leak.
But it is often much easier to find a leak on a cold engine in any case and with 20psi of pressure pushing coolant out the leak point it is easier to find as well, just keep pumping it up as pressure drops


Oil on underside of engine will flow from the leak backwards because of air pushing it when driving, so look under the truck and find where it is dirty then move forward until it is clean, oil leak is there

 

Thank you for the info.
that's something I didn't want to hear. lol. It looks to be a lot simpler to replace the water pump than the intake gasket.
I had hoped that it would be a half day removal and install.

I can not be sure, but I think leak is coming from the weep hole.
When It is cold it leaks quite a bit(pools on the ground). When it gets up to temp, I do not see a leak at all.

 

Can anyone shed some light on this issue?
I drove today and did not lose any water.
I am not sure what is going on.
I drained the radiator on Sunday, in hopes of changing the water pump, but I didn't have the correct wrenches to take the fan and clutch loose. So I put everything back together and refilled the the radiator and made sure there was some in the reservoir.
Today, I drove all day and did not see any drips. It's very puzzling.

 

You put Bar's Stop Leak in it, so it should have stopped leaking, not sure about the confusion??

Stop leak takes a bit to get to the leak and then harden enough to block it, and draining system does get rid of the plug in the leak hole.
So if you are not sure where the leak was then you will have to wait until plug loosens up and leak starts again

 

I didn't explain my self very well or detail the time frame.
About 3 1/2 weeks ago I had a radiator leak. I used Bar's Leak's and followed the instructions and that did not stop the leak. I got a new radiator and then about a week ago I had another leak. It looks like it is coming from the water pump.
Now like i said, on Sunday I drained everything and got ready to take the fan and water pump off but I didn't have the wrenches. That's when I put everything back together and refilled the cooling system. After that no more leak.
Before it was really dripping out but when it got hot it went away.
Now I have had a full radiator for two days.

 

The Bar's Stop Leak was still in the system, draining doesn't empty the system, block and heater core don't drain completely.

Drive it until it starts leaking again, or swap out the pump since you have a new one already.