Water Pump question...

[Patrick Rogers <progers@interlog.com>]

Hi, I'm new to the list.  I live near Toronto Canada and I bought an '86
8v Scirocco about 6 months ago.  I was wondering if anyone could help me
out with a puzzling problem I've been having.

About 4 months ago I started to loose coolant, and I noticed it was
leaking out the shaft of the water pump so I bought a new one
(remanufactured) at Canadian Tire.  The new pump worked well initially,
but after a couple of weeks I noticed a large green puddle under the car
at the bank (about 1 litre).  I drove to the gas station to fill up and
when I opened the hood to check it I couldn't find the leak.  About once a
month I'd find a puddle and I'd have to add some water, but I couldn't
find out where it was comming from.  Recently (after changing the
alternator) the leak has started to go pretty steadily, and I've managed
to pinpoint it to the pump, but not exactly where.  At first I thought it
was coming from the seal between the pump and the housing, but this
morning I noticed that it is definitely dripping on the shaft side, but I
still can't tell if it's comming from the end of the shaft or from the
round hole on the bottom of the pump.

This is very confusing because it was sporadic for so long and because it
has occured twice.  Is it possible that something (belt tension?) is
causing my pumps to fail, or is it likely that I just got a bad pump from
Crappy Tire?

Oh yeah, I don't have AC, and I'm having trouble tensioning my alternator
belt because the weird nut thingy for tensioning it is stripped so I have
to push it into place using a board.  I had it a little loose before
(about 1.5 - 1 cm deflection) but it's been better since I replaced the
alternator (about 0.5 cm deflection).

Any info would be appreciated.

- Pat


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