Just replaced my water pump gasket.

[xekrubx]

Felpro gasket was $5.99 at advance autoparts. Autozone had to order it and the other 2 places only had them with the pump.
I bought this 94 explorer about a week ago and knew there was a slight coolant leak. This past saturday after i installed my $45 lighted lund visor i found at the junkyard in the exact color. I got super lucky(they only had 1 navajo and 1 explorer which was a 94. That was it, no other gens, no rangers) I had a torrential downpour of coolant from my motor. I had driven it for a week with no issues. It was too wet to diagnose that night so i let it sit. The next morning i went to check it out and turns out it was almost pouring out from around the water pump. The brand new water pump that was installed before i bought the thing. Ass i bought it from claimed to be a mechanic. And Id like to thank ford for making it necessary to get a special tool to remove something as simple as a fan clutch. Tho autozone on the phone said it would be $55 loan but they gave me a brand new set. I walked out of there with the wrenches and a small bottle of orange clean for $19.99. Total time was 3 hours. On a snowy icy driveway with my only light being a fluorescent drop light and it being under freezing. And a small socket wrench that wont hold onto the 10mm socket necessary for the pump removal. My tool collection is crap. But of course i got it off, scraped all the old gasket off, and put the new gasket on with some rtv and slapped it all back together. Im still dripping much more than when i purchased the thing but it doesnt look to be coming from the pump. So i say me vs explorer = draw. Ill use the daylight this weekend to figure out where my other leaks are. Im just very happy i got the thing going again right as a snow storm is up my ass.
Oh and im sure if i had to do it again i could easily cut that time below 2 hours.

 

[xekrubx]

Well that lasted a day. Its pissing out around the gasket just like before. What a waste of time and effort. If it didnt work the first time im not doing it myself a second. Now to wait a couple weeks and send it off to the shop.

 

[marragtop]

Are you sure it's leaking at the gasket and not at the center shaft of the pump? Could be a faulty pump.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I had a problem with the Felpro water pump gasket too. It lasted about 3 months until a chunk of it blew out while I was on the highway. Coolant was gushing out of one corner. I was convinced that there was a crack since it was a new gasket, but it was only the gasket.

 

[xekrubx]

Thats what my boss was saying. That it could be leaking around the pulley and on older cars if a belt was too tight it would cause the leak. Before pulling it the leak was definitely coming from the gasket. And i drove it for a week before that happened. I drove the truck yesterday with very minor leaks here and there. But this morning once i got to the store i noticed bunches of green on the ice and checked it out. It was hard to tell because it hit the fan and splashed everywhere. So i filled it up with coolant and headed back home with no heat. I had heat before stopping at the store. Saturday im going to pull the fan again and run it to get a good look where its coming from then im sending it to the shop next week when i have the cash. I know it has slow leaks elsewhere and i want to get them all straightened out sans headgaskets and lower intake. Unless i get a good price on getting the lower intake done. I was also thinking maybe the pump is warped? I dont have a garage and my tool selection is very limited so for now its probably easiest to eat the cash.
Ill probably do the lower intake gasket myself once my buddies garage is cleared and i at least have the pump squared away.

 

[BrooklynBay]

You could get a pressure tester from Autozone's tool loaning program.