So, a few weeks ago, I decided to park the car and pretty much put all my suspension work on hold until the new year. I figured I would not have much time before then, with all the holiday season ongoings and all.
However, I did decide to replace the ignition cables. The old ones were cracked and weird looking. So, I went ahead and replaced them. Really simple stuff, although figuring out how to route them through the engine compartment took me a while - I wanted to get them just right!
Afterwards, I turned on the engine, and let the car warm up for about five minutes. Everything idled well, so I shut down the car, and went to bed.
A couple of days later, I was doing laundry in the garage, and I noticed a puddle of water on the floor. My first though was that the garage roof had sprung a leak. After looking around for a few minutes, it hit me - this could be coming from the car.
Sure enough, it was engine coolant. D'oh!
So, I looked around the engine compartment for a bit, and I figured it seems like there is an issue with the water pump. I also noticed the car was missing the swivel nut on the alternator bracket that is used to adjust the belt tension. Very weird. So, the belt was loose, and the pump (or something in the vicinity) was leaking...
I've also noticed that many bolts tend to be a bit loose - I can easily add torque to many of them. Which leads me to think two things:
a) The water pump is bad
b) the water pump was not torqued correctly, and water/coolant is leaking through the seams.
How annoying!
Since then, I've been buying bolts to replace the missing ones, and have been doing a bit of research on how to proceed. The most mentioned course involves removing the radiator, fan, and pump, in order to ensure the pump is A-OK. I suspect I might buy a replacement pump anyways. I am also considering getting an electric fan, since all parts will be disassembled and all.
And all these repairs will have to wait until after the new year...
And theeeen, I can work on the suspension...
Or on whatever breaks next...
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