Well this morning i jack up the car and i see coolant driping from the timing cover area. It must have just started within the last week and ive only lost about 1/2 my overflow, radiator is full. I cant tell exactly what is leaking i would imagine it would have to be 1 of 3 things. Either water pump, where the water pipe meets the water pump or im not sure if this is possible the headgasket. Am i correct in thinking this ?
BTW water pump is original with 90k, i have all the parts for the timing belt water pump just waiting for a good weekend.

 

get ready to do that timing belt/waterpump and while your at it replace all the seals behind the timing covers, in the meantime keep an eye on your coolant level. nothing worse then having to do a headgasket due to lack of car maintenance

 

As p10hlm mentioned, if you clean and reuse the seals for the timing covers, make that your first part of the job, use RTV to glue the seals back onto the timing covers so there is ample time for the RTV to dry before you reinstall the covers. If you buy new parts then they should stay in place during reassembly without RTV.

If you feel comfortable, change the cam and crank seals too along with idler and tensioner pulleys. Did you buy the deluxe kit that came with everything you need for this job or just the minimums.

As a backup plan, I like to tell folks to mark the timing belt and timing gears before removing the old belt, count the teeth on the old belt and transfer the marks to the new belt. Sometimes when the new belt is put on it may be off by one tooth when it actually looks good.

Yes, I know, if the old belt was off by one tooth then this method is no good, but if the engine was running good with plenty of power then it should be aligned properly.

For me personally, I only use this method, I do not set the motor up to TDC but I recommend both methods for folks who dont do this everyday. Plus I can use an oscilloscope with a pressure transducer to check mechanical timing before total reassembly anyways.

 

when i said seals behind the timing belt covers i was talking about the cam and crank, balance shaft etc...

 

If you don't see anything leaking when the engine's hot, but spot a puddle after sitting all night; you've most likely have a bad Water Pump (or more accurately a bad water pump shaft seal)

P