On my 95 GXE Auto, even though my car is fully warmed up, and the temperature gauge is in the middle, and car seems to be running fine, and coolant level is ok...my radiator hoses are still kinda soft and pressable. Does that mean that water pump is messed up?? Is there any other way to check if the water pump is bad while its on the car??/

Thanks everyone in advance

 

even when is hot you can press in hoses as long as your car is running ok you shouldn't be worried

 

Then how do I know if the water pump is bad. I thought that the water pump was suppose to circulate coolant throughout the system.
Are your guy's hoses hard when the car is warm???? I can press mine.

 

This is PERFECTLY NORMAL.
The Pressure in our hoses is not all that great.

You know the water pump is going when:

a) Coolant starts spilling out of the passenger side of your engine.
b) your car overheats.
c) your engine blows.

Funny thing is - 4 years on this board and I've never seen anyone lose a water pump. I'm sure it's happened, it's just obivously really rare.

 

Actually, I believe Ange was asking about the water pump a while back. I also know that one dealership in Madison replaced one on a 4th gen Maxima at 190k miles.

They charged close to $450 for the water pump at that time.

Is replacing the water pump doable for DIY? For me, replacing a timing chain tensioner is out of my league, but brakes and suspension are not.

 

Nope you would have to loosen the tension on the timing chain just to get the water pump out. After that you need to take out the water pump which is a pain in the rear! So nope, I would recomend you taking this one to a shop and have someone that knows what they are doing take care of this one. Since there is so little space as it is just to get to the pump itself you would have an extremely hard time.

-Chris

 

Like I said...

 

lol thats funny!!

 

There is a write-up around somewhere that explains the procedure very well. It was done on a white max. The write-up makes the procedure seem very DIY'er possible.

 

lmao, yea i thought about that for a second lol.

 

Broaner,

...since I am approaching 200k at lightning speed, I might schedule an appointment with you to do the water pump when the time comes!

 

The coolant leak happens when the pump o-rings get hard from age and can't contract and expand with the engine as its temperature cycles up and down. The pump itself is still okay when that happens. Actually, the pump is very well designed and very robust, much better than any domestic water pump I've ever seen. I bet 999 times out of a thousand the pump itself doesn't need to replaced, just the o-rings. But, if you are going through the trouble of replacing the o-rings, you might as well just replace the pump.

 

Sounds good Ardika. Let me know. I'll only charge you a nice lunch.