Almost Sold 'Em

[older929]

But changed my mind. I have 2 89 929's down all winter, one with a blown hard brake line, the other with "maybe" a leaky WP.
Some advice sought. The brake line that blew is the right rear. Is this going to be a giant PITA to replace? It is a long line but I think it just goes from the ABS thing to the brake line in the rear. When I go to remove the fitting at the rear will I destroy the flex line fitting? Should I have them on hand too? Any other pitfalls to be aware of?

WP on the other one. OK, I had antifreeze running onto the belts making the power steering fail due to the belt slipping too much. It looks like the leak is in the center, i.e. it runs off the timing belt covers at the center. Could something related to the thermostat, housing, some hose etc make this kind of leak? Any way to totally determine that yes it's the water pump? Will I see stark evidence of the WP failing when I remove the TB covers? Not that this is a difficult job, just time consuming and I really don't want go through all the work of the pump and TB and find I'm still leaking. Any way it could be leaking at the intake manifold?

These cars have been owned by me for eons and I stll love 'em so I'd like to get them both up and on soon. My son's first car will be an 89 with fixed brakes :-) Long may they live. Bought my first 929 in 1989 and have been driving one ever since.

[NoD]

Flare nuts are soft, and its easy to round them. use the correct wrench, preferable a flare nut wrench.

[older929]

OK, it's finally nice out. The car with the coolant leak has got me nuts. I added antifreeze to the rad and overflow, jacked the car up a little and removed the underpan. The intent here was to run the engine and watch for leaks to be sure it's the pump. Ran the motor for 30 mins, no leaks !!!! temp went up some, A/C worked fine. Engine ran smooth, but no dripping from anywhere. What might be happening? Would the WP seal up again in warmer weather? The lower radiator hose never got really hot. I am not 100% sure the thrmostat opened all the way but the temp gauge in the dash didn't indicate any porbelem. The rad definitely was holding pressure as the hoses are all hard, the top hose is hot. It's like it fixed itself, I don't like it much when a car does this. It sat from November 'till now if that means anything. Advice? Explaination? Replace WP anyway? Thanks Much

[*~~Habib~~*]

On the underside of the water pump housing, there is a weep hole, if its leaking, that's where it will leak from.

As for the thermostat, its located off the bottom hose, close to the engine. I know on my 929, the top hose is hotter, while the bottom hose is alot cooler.

But its sounds too me, like your water pump is faulty. Starting too leak, left any longer, it will become noisy as well.

[older929]

Yeah, I had an old pump on a shelf in the garage and found 2 weep holes, on on top that I found on my car with the air snorkel removed. I didn't know about the bottom one but I;ll look for that one now. Very strange that the leak went away. I am running some steel seal for a manifold crack and it's been in the car for about 60K miles. I've heard SS can make a water pump act up. I'm thinking it did and nearly 5 months of sitting something happened and the pump sealed it self up again. I'm ordering a new one and will replace the existing if it starts up again. Car's only got 98K miles and otherwise runs really well.