slowZ

hell yeah tap it and put a fitting in it. just dont tap too deep, dont know what you're gonna hit. if it saves the opti i say go for it. when i replaced my opti this last time i got a new water pump and tapped it, put a fitting in it and a piece of hose that goes over to the fan shroud so it leaks below the engine and far enough front i will be able to easily see it. oh and a side note if i remember correctly there is another weep hole at the top some where that you can't do this to..

RamAir95TA

I'm sorry but this is just ridiculous.

The weep hole leaks to let you know that the support bearings holding the impeller are beginning to fail and leak. It's essentially an idiot light for your water pump. If you had an idiot light on your dash and it went off, what would you do? Chances are you'd stop, diagnose, and fix whatever the problem was, especially if your engine was at risk.

You're more worried about leaking a few drops of coolant on your waterpump than you are the pump failing and possibly catastrophically overheating and leaking all over your optispark anyway.

A few drops of coolant here have a very slim chance of harming the opti. It is at this point that it needs to be replaced. Don't just keep pushing it off because you don't want to spend the money. Heck, for the cost you could pick up an electric pump and never have to worry about it again. Sorry but this whole topic is ludicrous to me.

EDIT: Not to mention you have to pull off the water pump anyway, so why reinstall a bad pump?

95firehawk

I believe he is wanting to do a little preventative maintenance and probably not a bad idea if it is relatively easy to pull off. If it's not leaking at all then I would say go for it. On the other hand, is his opti actually getting water on it or is the moisture in the air on rainy days causing it to not fire?

RamAir95TA

Unfortunately I missed that statement, so my bad.

Regardless, 125k isn't exactly a spring chicken water pump. If I had 125k on mine, I'd replace it as failure won't be too far off.

chevyowner02

I have seen it done on here or another site I have searched and done some more searching. I have had no luck finding it he did it the same way to keep it from dripping on the opti just incase he did not catch the leak in time and the opti did. Seems like when he did it there was a lot of people on board for it. Just keep us informed because I'm thinking about some way of doing it.

TrybalRage

I remembered someone doing this on an LT1 back when I had a caprice (sorry different forum):

http://www.impalassforum.com/vBullet...=tap+weep+hole

slowZ

i thought it was the bearing seal is bad not the bearing when it starts leaking? could be either i guess

RamAir95TA

The bearings are sealed.

OneShoe50

I think the idea has merit and now I've got something else to worry about, dang it.

Maybe a pic once your done, pls.

Joe B

On mine currently (and pretty much ALL of the other LT1/LT4's that I've worked on over the years, which has been a lot)...I just simply take the proper size straight plastic vacuum nipple (from any auto parts store) and hand press it right into the WP's weep hole...this way it can be done quickly & easily, and without possibility of any metal shavings(from tapping) going anywhere, AND/OR with the WP still installed on the car.....Then for added security, I spray some aerosol brake cleaner to clean the area, then I just spread a small bead of JB weld around the nipple where it meets the WP base (from a toothpick dipped in JB weld).....Then I "always" use a "clear" drain tube (From Home Depot) that gets tie-wrapped to the frame a couple feet away....The clear tubing is good since a lot of times the water coming from the weep hole (when the WP is starting to go bad) is so "minute" that if your using a regular black rubber hose (such as fuel tubing) the weep hole water pressure may not even make it to the hoses exit for you to see the issue(unless your hose is REAL short & straight, Mine on My Vette is NOT either).....Anyway, the clear tubing lets you see right away what's going on........IMO, For the 5 minutes that this process takes (minus the JB weld drying time) there's really NO reason I can think of NOT to do it..........PS: Also remember...a lot of times when the WP is starting to go, it will commonly start weeping from the Weep hole only at higher RPM's (such as when your driving, or racing)....this is why a lot of guys kill the opti with water before they ever know they have a WP problem........Joe

Z28SORR

Yep, perfectly fine idea. All aircraft engines have every weep hole, vent and drain, done this way. It keeps flamable fluids out of the engine bay and helps keep things nice and clean.

rickyzZ28

I just found a small bottoming tap and ran it in, but I was careful not to go to deep. I then put a brass nipple on it and ran a small piece of rubber hose to it and out the bottom. I did this right after I replaced my opti and water pump with a new GM one and the next day the water pump was leaking out the weephole, so I took the water pump off and retutrned it under GMs warranty and then did this mod to the new one before reinstalling it.

rbaksi

You can put a hose on the wp if you want and just replace the opti, but with 125K and it weeping it is on its way out already. Might as well save you the time and trouble of replacing the wp and just do it when you replace the opti. You have to take it out to replace the opti anyway might as well take care of it again. That way you wont have to go under the hood again for a while (except for performance mods ).

My wp was weeping at 105K and I replaced it alone. I should have replaced the opti when I did that as my opti is beginning to go out now at 111K. I kick myself for that since removing the wp was kinda a pain.