I thought I bought a pretty pristine car but I've had to do a lot of work to it. Now I know why they tell young people not to get old fast cars. It's not because they don't want them to go fast, It's because you gotta have a garage, tools, and another vehicle.
I finally finished fixing all the emissions gear about a month ago. Big Brother off my back for the first time ever. Last night when I get to work, co-worker comes running over, "Somethings wrong with your car!" I go outside, hot coolant from underneath the pulleys to the radiator/overflow tank area. Guy tells me he saw it dripping from the pulleys. Gotta be the water pump, right?
I go back out at break and put a quart of clean water in it to top it back up. (It wasn't dripping when not running and not hot) I was just under it a month ago and the hoses all looked reasonable.
I drove it home babying it as much as possible and it wasn't dripping and never got hot. (I'm always checking the factory heat gauge) Could I have caught it right at the very beginning of it going out?

Say it's the water pump: do I want to convert to an electric pump? what are the pros and cons. The other one that looked good was the plain Jegs one. I don't want to wait on the ebay guy to send me a rebuild kit and the last thing I wanna do is get some no-name pump from the autoparts store after too many problems with parts for my diesel dually.
Also, while I'm under there, the front seal of the engine seems to be leaking. Not gushing like the intake manifold was, but dripping. I've skimmed the posts on that repair and it seems like I may as well tackle them both.

Also, sorry to bombard yous with all the issues in one post, but my a/c was barely cool. Not really cool at all. I got one of those cans and pumped it in the only fitting it would fit on. I pumped till the gauge on the can went from just under the green range to the top of the green range. It didn't really get any cooler at all. It's still not cold. What's the next thing to check for on that issue?

I wish I had some loot so I could pick out some speed parts to put in while I have it all ripped apart *again*. I thought by now I'd be building it instead of just repairing it.

 

For the AC...is the compressor turning on? Are the vents moving correctly in the car(temp adjustment)? Could be other things as well. I'm not the worlds best when it comes to AC, so hopefully others will chime in on it.

For the coolant issue, inspect carefully for where the leak may have come from. Also, rent or get a cooling system pressure tester and apply some pressure to test the system. This "usually" will reveal where a leak is in the system(depending on where the leak is located). I've got plenty of threads on how to use one. Just do a search. Another thing, what is the level in the overflow tank? Is it in the correct range when hot and cold?

 

lots of stuff wrong lol, well first off general information would help people out that are trying to help you like year make and model, engine size, tranny.

to answer your waterpump question, i am all for the electric water pump but some guys hate it on the street. the best info i can give you for it is that if you do end up going with one, get a meziere and when you wire it, hook it up to something that turns on when you turn the ignition on that way since its not hooked up to a switch you wont forget to turn it on and overheat something.

as far as your front crank seal you might as well replace it if your getting into tearing stuff apart its not that hard and there are a couple threads on how to do so.

 

And read all the threads about getting the hub off, too, so you don't FUBAR that little operation.

 

Hello Hello! First of all I want to apologize for not following thru on this thread. The brakes went out on the worktruck and then I hit a patch of overtime. So the Camaro had to sit till this weekend.
Car is a 1996 Z28 convertible. 6 speed. Stock. 87000 miles. Traction control and cruise control.
I rented the pressure tester and found two leaks. The hose going from water pump to heater core and small hose that goes from water pump to radiator. I patched those up and I appear to be out of the woods on that issue.


As for the air: I tried it a few more times while driving and it was just blowing more warm air. So I parked and popped the hood and turned the air on max. The compressor was spinning for maybe 20 seconds. I was getting ready to go feel one of the vents for temperature when the compressor stopped cold and started pouring smoke. I went for the extinquisher thinking I was going to lose the whole car but it stopped smoking after A WHILE...
So what does this mean? Seized compressor? Replace and go on with my life? Should I be concerned with shorted out or damaged wiring?

Thank you all again. I couldn't do this without ya's

 

P.s. didn't mess with the front seal yet.
P.p.s. 3 bills and more for the compressor: can I replace parts or have the old one rebuilt?
P.p.p.s. is it safe to drive the car if I just leave the air off?

 

I'm no expert but the smoke MAY have been a leak somehow of freon. I replaced a radiator on my friends '95 accord and accidentally poked a hole in the AC condenser and that thing poured out black "smoke" for 15 minutes!


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AC problems are just a pain but solvable. You can get a rebuilt compressor and bolt it on your self. Two things have two fail for the AC compressor to be cause of the smoke. First the compressor has to seize and secondly the compressor clutch has to seize. To check, jack up the car, remove or loosen the belt and turn the AC pulley. If it turns the clutch isn't seized and you can drive the car....

 

The oil in the compressor has leaked out. It doesn't happen often. More than likely the compressor was leaking and that's how you lost your oil. Put a compressor on it and and a receiver/drier. The reason you need a drier is because of the debris and any contaminants that could be in the system. Some people will tell you that you should replace it every time you open the ac system to atmosphere. And you probably should if you live in the south where humidity is high. But if the system is only open for a little while doin a normal repair I don't worry about it. In your case get one. You will have to vacuum the system down, let it sit in that vacuum for 30 minutes to an hour and as long as the needle on your gauges don't move you don't have a leak and can proceed to fill the system with freon on the low side. I don't use scales to measure how much freon I use, I just watch my gauges and temp gauge in an air vent. If you don't have access to the equipment take it to a shop and with in two hours you'll have ac.

 

I forgot to mention that before you in stall your compressor, it would be a good idea to check and see if it has oil in it. If not, get some PAG oil, check a manual and see how much the compressor needs. I think its just a couple ounces. And make sure you let the shop know that you put oil in it. Too much oil and it won't cool well. I also like to use the PAG oil with uv dye in it. Hope all this helps.