03 STR Water Pump Leaking.!!
 

hello everyone, My 2003 STR has a water Pump leak. I changed the water pump with a new one (non oem) and after start up and letting her idle for about 10 minutes.. she started dripping again. We used some Ultra Grey silicone on the water pumps thin metal gasket and let her rip again.. after another 10 minutes of idle and a quick highway cruise, the problem appeared to be fixed... until today.. went up to the hills for a morning jog, and much to my dismay, as i took a knee to tie my shoes, i saw the coolant slowly dripping.. immediately got back in the car and drove home.. I did get a "low engine coolant" warning on the way and the minute she went slightly over the half way mark on the temperature gauge i pulled over to let her cool off... i hope i haven't done any more damage to my car.. this is really frustrating.!! Any suggestions..? should i maybe buy an OEM water pump??

Are you sure it is from the water pump?

Sounds like your going to have to take the watpump back out and reinstall with another metal gasket ... did you torque down the water pump bolts to spec? If you tightened them up too much you might have warped the thin metal gasket.

I used hylomar on the metal gasket when I changed my water pump (same deal - non OEM) with successful results...

I agree. Make sure it is the water pump and not something else. Sometimes when you plug one hole the next weakest link in the cooling system will let go and start leaking. Pressure test the system to pinpoint it and hope its not the hose under the supercharger.

Could be the coolant expansion tank? Tomorrow give her a good looking over.

The STR water pump very rarely causes problems. Are you sure of where the leak is coming from?

On my 2005 STR I have had two small coolant leaks that were both pin holes in different cooling hoses. Only found them by pressure testing the system with the motor cold. It's had to tell where it's dripping from.
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+2 to checking for coolant leaks elsewhere. My 03 STR has 140K miles and never a pump issue. Blessed Mary of Car Jinxs', please don't pass judgement on me now.