I noticed this morning that coolant is dripping (one drop every 5-7 minutes) from front right corner of engine. What is this, water pump failure?

 

the water pump in a maxima almost never goes bad, but in the even that it does,it costs about 300 bucks to replace, its hard to get to, just like the alternator.........both the water pump and alternator died on me : (......... one drop every few minutes?? Could also be a worn out hose.

 

Do you mean the right front corner of the engine as you stand in front of the car and look down? If so, it's probably a bad seal between one of the coolant hoses and the engine. They can get corroded if the system is neglected.

 

Nope. I mean right front corner if you look from the driver's seat.

 

Okay, then it might be the water pump. It could also still be from one of the hoses over there. Have you looked closely at the engine to see where this might be coming from, also how many miles on the car? Despite what 95emeraldgxe, the water pumps have been known to go after 100K, but that's not unusual on any car. Hopefully it's just a leak from one of the hoses.

 

The car has 105K on the odometer. I took out plastic cover in the right weelwell and tried to locate the source of leak. All I could see was the trace of antifreeze going down the side of engine, but I couln't spot the source. As far as I could see hoses are OK.

The funny thing is: I started the engine to make sure the leak isn't getting worse when engine is running and dripping stopped. Made half-mile trip to grocery store and back and looked again - nothing. Parked the car on clean patch of concrete and even put paper towel under it - not even one drop of coolant after 5 or 6 hours. Now this is weird...

Will look tomorrow morning. I'm really puzzled.