2001 Subaru Outback wagon LL Beam 3.0 leaky water pump

[3Pin]

I have a LL Bean with a leaky water pump.  While I am in there puttin gin the water pump, any advice on what else to do while the front cover is off?

 

The car has 242k on the clock and runs well.

[DaveT]

When was the timing belt and all of the idlers last replaced?

[3Pin]

It has a timing chain.  when it was last done is an unknown.  Just bought it about a month ago.

Edited January 13, 2017 by 3Pin

[CNY_Dave]

Are you 100% it is the water pump?

 

I have been on here awhile, yours would I think be the first.

 

Are you getting coolant out the weep hole at the bottom of the timing case?

[CNY_Dave]

Oh, and be ready to put some timing chain guides in, some '01's ate them up a bit. Others are fine forever.

[3Pin]

I am not sure.  The shop that does all my work told me there was a big puddle under the motor today.  What else are you thinking..not HG?

[idosubaru]

H6 water pumps very rarely leak. It's far more likely to be a misdiagnosis unless the person and shop that diagnosed it is excellent or lucky.

 

For rust belt cars it's usually the hard metal coolant lines rusting on the drivers side which is the same side and level abs areas as the water pump.

 

Could also be radiator, hose, thermostat housing gasket, coolant cross over lines for the oil cooler.

 

I would want to verify with 100% certainty it's the pump before moving forward.

 

I would only replace the pump and orings for the timing cover (I cant recall if orings are for the front and rear or just the rear cover. If front has them too then they'll need replaced for the water pump replacement. Rear cover doesn't need removed for water pump.)

[Caboobaroo]

With the mileage, I wouldn't be surprised if it is leaking. Seen 4 or 5 in the last couple yeara. One would only leak when cold but I verified that it was coming from the weep hole on the water pump.

[3Pin]

Thanks everybody.  I will let you know Monday.

[CNY_Dave]

270,000 I had on mine, down to almost -20F some winters, never had a drop out the weep hole.

 

Statistically some out there should be dripping, but it's pretty rare.

[Numbchux]

It does happen, but with several hoses, and thin-walled steel pipes (one that goes back on the driver's side to the heater hose, and one that goes across in front of the oil pan to the oil cooler) physically near the water pump that are notorious for rusting out. It is more likely a mis-diagnosis.

 

 

A shop here in town did a water pump on one because they thought the gasket was leaking. Aftermarket pump/gasket leaked worse than the one they took off, so they got to do the job twice to put an OE one in, and the problem all along was the pipe that Gary is talking about that goes back to the heater hose.

 

I don't think I've heard of a head gasket failure on one of these that yielded external coolant leakage (although, an internal failure can push all the coolant out of the overflow...).

 

 

 

That said, if they're completely sure of the cause of the problem, just gaskets is likely all it will need. Talk to your local dealer, if they're OK with ordering up chain guides just in case you need them, do that (Subaru, like most manufacturers, is not very forgiving when it comes to returns from the dealership, so depending on the volume that they do, they may not get a full refund if you don't use them). That way you can inspect them when it's apart and not have a ton of down time. If they're not comfortable with that, you'll have to weigh the cost of replacing them preventatively against potential downtime once it's apart (sounds like you might be having a shop fix it, so talk to them).

[3Pin]

It was the water pump.  Thanks for all of the answers.   Chain guides were all good.