Legacy GT '97 - Overheated on highway after water pump broke, fix?

[86GLScooby]

Hey, I would appreciate any input...

 

I stated on a road trip and got about 60 miles out when my car overheated, pulled over and saw the coolant gushing out under where the water pump is located. Haven't opened it up yet, but I assume the water pump is broke.

 

In more detail: When I was driving I decided to put on the ac and it worked for a little while and then started blowing hot air. Thinking that the ac just broke and not knowing any better I turned it off and kept on driving... I should have checked to see if it's overheating at that point in time. (yes, I'm kicking myself in the rump roast) So after a little while I turned the ac back on cause it was way too hot... FL and then saw that my car was overheating. Pulled over and saw the coolant gushing out. Had it towed to a mechanic and when he started the engine white smoke was coming out of the tailpipe... head gasket I hope.

 

Now my question is, what are my steps for repair? Change out the water pump to see if I can drive it to a shop and have them do a pressure test to see if the head is cracked? Then if not, do a timing belt kit change with head gasket change, I know there's a lot more stuff you can do while you're at that point, but would those be the basics?

 

Thanks for your comments,

Kevin

[GeneralDisorder]

Have you checked the heater core bypass hose under the water pump?

 

Could be a bad aftermarket water pump gasket (they are paper).

 

You need to do more investigation.

 

White smoke out the exhaust is very possibly head gaskets. Especially on that engine. You might want to just tear it down and replace them. The updated gaskets are much better.

 

GD

[86GLScooby]

Thanks, I'll investigate further in the morning... I'll be able to get to where the car is. Funny, jokingly I was thinking that perhaps it's just a pipe that broke, lol. We'll see soon enough though.

 

How long can these engines overheat before causing damage to the heads, ect.? I guess I should have them tested before doing all the work.

Edited August 16, 2010 by 86GLScooby

[GeneralDisorder]

Usually with that engine people repeatedly overheat them due to the head gasket flaw without realizeing that every time they do that they damage the oil. This usually results in bottom end failure down the line. If you care about the engine change the oil IMMEDIATELY after any severe overheat.

 

It is not likely you have damaged the heads in any significant way. Maybe slightly warped but nothing that won't come out when they are resurfaced for the head gasket job.

 

The bottom end is the thing you must protect and that requires that you change the oil at the first signs of an overheat. If it's an automatic transmission you should change the ATF as well since it's temp is loosely associated with the radiator temp. Better safe than sorry.

 

GD

[86GLScooby]

Thank you so much for your info. There should be a mandatory class one takes when buying a car so people know all this... I was planning on doing a trans flush and change out the rear diff fluid. I'm a noob, so excuse my lack of knowledge and knowing what everything is called. I've learned so much about my car over the past few weeks doing research on this forum and the legacygt forum. Thanks.

[Dickensheets]

Years ago I bought a book called: Automotive Technology, 3rd ed. by Jack Erjavec.

 

Now I'm not gonna kid you this book is a hoss, 1400 pages with twice that many diagrams, and it's not exactly cheap.

 

But I got good use out of it over the years with various rebuilds and swaps.

 

A Hayne's manual is what should be compulsory with any vehicle purchase. Car, motorcycle, boat etc......

 

Later, Ryan