Every vehicle has a cooling system both for the comfort of the passengers but also for the benefit of the engine itself. Engines produce heat while they are running; the cooling system keeps the engine from completely melting down. The water pump is the most important part of the cooling system, without the pump to move the coolant through the system; the system can’t do its job.

The all-important water pump shoots coolant/water from the radiator to the engine, cooling the engine as it works. It is usually driven by a belt and operates only when the engine is running. The water pump can be found near the car’s front or side, behind the fan belt. It will look a bit like an octopus, one arm attached to the radiator and another to the engine with other arms primarily for stability. This pump uses centrifugal force to pass the water from itself back through the engine. Every water pump has a weep hole. The hole is just a few millimeters in diameter and should be located on the side of the pump or facing toward the ground. Normally the weep hole is sealed by a gasket, as time goes and the pump begins to wear, the gasket will erode. Because of this erosion, the seal is no longer sealed and will begin to dribble coolant out the hole.

When coolant begins to dribble out the weep hole, it is time to see your favorite mechanic. When an engine is losing coolant, the risk of overheating the engine and doing irreparable damage gets extremely high. In addition to leaking coolant, the water pump can also make noise as its bearing begins to lose its way. A water pump is either working or not working; there is no middle ground here. But because the water pump is located in a way that much of the cooling system or engine itself has to be removed in order to reach it all, it is best to work with the water pump when servicing surrounding systems. A great time to have the water pump serviced or examined is when the radiator itself is being serviced, or the air conditioning system is being recharged. Both of these services allow for ideal access to the water pump itself.

When the temperature outside is hot, the last thing we want is a hot car. We all prefer to get in, start it up and crank the air conditioner. However, if certain components of the engine are either failing or not working altogether, this cooling process simply won’t happen. Rolling down the window doesn’t do much for cooling. Regular maintenance of all vehicle components is part of owning a vehicle. Just like changing the oil is necessary, so is keeping an eye on the coolant level and whether or not it is being lost under the car. Knowing our vehicle helps us to know what might be going wrong because we know how it acts when everything is going right. A car that overheats or leaves coolant on the ground potentially has big problems that must be looked into especially if we want to be able to drive to work every day. We can’t ignore little warning signs, pay attention to your car, it can save you a lot of money to catch problems sooner rather than later.