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One of the first clues you might have that you have an issue with your water pump is your temperature gauge. Is your engine running hot? Another clue is the strange sounds coming from your engine. After years of pumping coolant, you might hear a grinding or whining sound indicating your water pump is almost all pumped out.

Most of the time your shaft seal starts to leak or the impeller inside comes lose, wears down, or the blades wear down or erode. Leaks usually happen in the area where the water pump meets the engine. A leaking water pump causes the cooling system to lose coolant. If the leak goes undetected, the engine will overheat due to the loss of coolant. If your first clue that you have a problem is the temperature warning light comes on, turn the engine off immediately. Continuing to drive with an overheated engine can take you from what might have been a small repair to extreme and costly engine damage.

A seal on the water pump shaft stops coolant from leaking beyond the bearing. Rust, residue or other pollutants mixing with the coolant inside the cooling system can cause seal wear. The pump shaft and bearings constantly bear the load from the drive belt or timing belt as well as the fan on vehicles with pump-mounted mechanical cooling fans. Over time the water pump shaft seal or bearing wear out causing the pump to leak.

A water pump may fail internally due to severe corrosion wearing away the impeller blades, or the impeller comes loose on the shaft, or the shaft itself may break.

If you’re concerned about your car’s performance, come by one of our 14 locations and let us take a look.