I got a leak coming from somewhere near the bottom by the passenger front wheel. When I look under the car from the passenger side, I see the "liquid" (looks like water), leaking from behind the AC belts. When I look from the top, I can barely see it leaking next to the AC compressor. My dad, who used to be a mechanic back in the days of carburetors, thinks it's the head gasket. Any suggestions? And if you think it's the head gasket also, which manual should I get to do this repair, Haynes or Chiltons? I want to do this repair myself. I just paid to have the head gasket replaced on my wifes car, 96 Integra, and of course some other things were "found" wrong with it and we ended up paying $1400.00. Help me out please !!

 

Is it clear?
Is it only after you drive with the a/c on?

Just asking to see if it is just the water off the compressor from using the a/c.

 

No, the AC has not been on since the fall of last year. Someone came over today and said it could be the water pump. Anyone ever change the water pump before?

 

Ouch! I've heard nothing but complaints about just how hard it is to change it. Try looking at some member sites or do a search and you'll find what a PITA most ppl think it is!

I can't remember for our cars, but make sure your climate controls aren't on "defrost" (all air blowing on windshield) since on some cars this means the AC will be running to aid defogging. I guess you can always check by touching this liquid and seeing if it smells sweet.... Oh yeah, I've had several people say you should run your A/C once a month to prevent corrosion in the system.

HTH

 

same thing happened to me it was my water pump dealership rep[laced it and the timing belt, tried to kill 2 birds with one stone. they charged bout 600 bucks

 

It is your water pump, they are a PITA to change out, but take your time, It save going and paying someone over 200 bucks to change out.
I paid $70.00 @ Autozone for mine. There is no core charge, as far as the manuals none of them tell how exactly to do it. But you will have to remove all your drive belts (3). You don't have much room to work in there so good luck.

 

check out Bryan91se's site: http://members.csinet.net/tisch/maxima/

he has a word document on there that has teh instructions for doing this on a VE
I've never done it but I've heard it's a really big pain but doable

I know James92se and I think Jeff92se have done it, search around this forum for more

good luck

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ght=water+pump

 

Thank you for all of your responses. I am going to try and get my dad to help me out with this, but I doubt he will help me. He would rather shell out the money than to do it ourselves. I might have a problem anyway with the jacking up part. Having my car so low and having the kit installed, makes it hard to jack up the car but so high before the other side touches the ground.

 

What about jacking up both sides at once, then? And use jack stands, of course.

 

The back would hit the ground then. I can only get my car up enough to get the tire off the ground and take the tire off. Would this be enough to get a jack stand under and get the water pump out?

 

The water pump is really not that hard to change, do it from the wheel well, access is a lot easier, one thing that you should do though is let the RTV fully cure before filling the coolant system.
If I remember right, (been quite a while since I did it) a couple of the bolts are different lengths than the others, make sure you reinstall from where they came from

 

About how long do you think it took you to change out the water pump? And what else should I change out while I'm in that part of the engine?

 

What I did was the timing belt, thermostat and water pump, considering the car was taken apart at the time, I only wanted to do it once. The whole process took me about 5 hours for everything. You do require tools though.

 

look, this whole whine about changing the w/p is all bs!!
i did it in one evening while drinking coffee and smoking winston lights!. thing is u have to jack up the car for good access.
then u remove the auxillary belts and then the timing belt.then u remove the inner timing cover and VOILA!!! now u are looking the w/p rigth in the eye. but u also have to remove the pulley of the w/p.
but i would first check the a/c since u talk about "clear" water
and the radiator coolant should be coloured and also check if youre radiator needs to be filled up regularly.
thats how it works in iceland folks!!!

hope this helps,if any more questions, just email me

 

Hey Moderators, we can lock up this thread now, I replaced my water pump. And yes that is what was leaking. Thanks for all the responses. Will post pics and updated instructions on the water pump procedure.