HELP! Water pump coolant leak

[meshow99]

Well, my faithful 89GTs throttle stuck and revved to the limit. That started a nice coolant leak. It appears that the coolant is coming from the passenger side lower corner (curve?) water pump bolt. Is this one of the bolts that enters the water jacket? Could that cause the leak or is this leak possible caused by the failure of the water pump due to the near 6k RPM? (BTW the pump is from autozone, 2 years ago).

thanks
Jay

 

[1990Coupe]

I honestly don't think over-revving an engine will cause a waterpump to leak. Have you tried to tighten the bolt? I know its a dumb question but i've had valve cover leaks occur cause of loose bolts, all i needed to do was tighten them and the leak went away.

 

[meshow99]

I havent had a moment to try that. Does anyone know off the top of their head if this bolt might be one that enters the water jacket? Also someone at work said sometimes water pumps have a pressure release valve and if it releases, then the pump is shot. Can anyone confirm?

 

[LiquidGT]

I never heard of a ''pressure release valve'', at least not on a 5.0.

Could it be a leaky thermostat houing? I had a leaky T-stat housing once and it dripped down to where it looked like a leaking timing cover.

 

[Maryland Stang]

It could go into the jacket. Pull the bolt out, put sealer on it and put it back in. It should stop leaking. I used plumbers putty to seal my bolts.