Gang-

I have been dealing with a nasty ticking sound in my engine... I have narrowed it down to around the battery area(The right side of the motor if you are standing in front of the car with the hood up!).

This ticking noise starts out low sounding then gets louder as the car gets hotter... I was at a dealership the other day droping off my wifes new Town and Country, and the tech heard my tour running. I said whats that sound like the tick. He said an exhaust leak.. I said Ford replaced my front header about two years ago. HE said there might be a loose bolt? Any rate I go home and put the car up on stands, get under it and of course risking my life, start it and let it run...

Now I am under the car and notice that the ticking noise is around the water pump which in turn the left side exhaust port is there too? But I noticed that the underside of the water pump housing is wet.. Not soaking but wet.... I have been noticing a drip lately and my coolant is disapearing every few months.... Could a pulley on the water pump tick? I really think its that. Because when ford replaced the header, they looked for the tick and still could not find it? SO I really don't think its from them and the header?

My buddy just replaced the water pump last year and did use the stock pulley again, which would make me wonder if it could be that....

My question is this? Are these pulleys expensive? Before I tear the motor appart( pay some one too) I want to narrow down all the options on the left side of the motor....

Thanks
Spankey

Water pump. Period. The ticking is you here is the shaft of the pullie/pump wobbling in its groove. There's a weep hole on the bottom for coolant to leak out of to indicate a seal is going. Yours is. Get a new one now before you overheat your engine and do much damage.

Mine did the same exact thing before the pump failed and I saw red...

There is a seap hole on the bottom of the water pump. Very small amounts of water will escape if the bearings to the shaft are bad.

I suspect that what your hearing is the bearings in the waterpump input shaft. Makes sence since it gets louder the hotter the car gets.

Has for the pulley... The last water pump I changed on one of our cars came with a pulley, so... I don't know what to tell you there. It is possible that if you had to press a new pulley on the new water pump and it was not done right, you could have damaged the bearings. Hince the premature failure.

Good luck -

ok.
my car was leaking coolant around christmas time from the underside of the waterpump.
i bought a brand new waterpump from checker and new gasket as well and put silicon between them and put the assembly on. then 3 weeks later i get the same leak from the same place (on the underside of the housing where the seap hole is!)
now last week sometime while i was on freeway i heard the ticking sound. first time i have ever heard this sound before.

here's my question: is the water pump bad again? should i return it back to checker and get a new one?
is it my engine ?
would a bad thermostat have a role in this?

does anyone have any insight on this??

If it is leaking out the weep hole you have a bad water pump. It needs to be replaced again.

In the small unlikelyhood that the seal failed due to crummy coolant, it would be a good idea to flush the cooling system at the same time.

ok, guys heres what happened.
apparently when i bought the water pump it wasn't new. it was a re-manufactured pump from checker!
so the same thing that originally happened to me happened because of it!
so i returned it and they gave me credit for a brand new one, with a solid sturdy metal propellar might i add!!
so i came home today did a full flush, put the new pump on , and added 60/40 of the orange good stuff. now the 'tour is back to how i liked it, RUNNING with NO leaks!

thanks guys!!!
it is now the 4th time u guys helped me!

Howdy,
I've had my 1996 Mystique 2 weeks now. 83m miles and very clean. The second day I drove it to work I noticed a small puddle of coolant(green) under the center front side of the motor. It's a 2.5 V-6. I looked at it carefully from the underside today and it looks like it's dripping from the "weep" hole on the underside of the water pump. Only while the car is heated up and running. Luckily the dealer I bought it from is going to look at it Monday and fix it for free(30 day warranty). I'm going to insist he get a white plastic or metal impeller pump, if that's the problem. Should I also change all the hoses? If the dealer is willing to replace the hoses while fixing the pump. I'd probably have to pay for the hoses. It hasn't overheated and seems to run perfect. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. Bill

If they are changing the whole pump as opposed to just the impeller, it should come with the hoses. The dealer would probably install it with the hoses. Check with them before offering to pay for anything.

Back again. Had the water pump changed. The leak was fixed. Now, only a week later the leak came back. Looks like it's coming from the same location, the weep hole on the water pump. I'm wondering, if they used the wrong type of antifreeze would it cause the pump to leak? It calls for Motorcraft 93BB 8100 AD coolant. What color should that be? Stuff they used is green and smells like normal antifreeze. Could it just be a lemon remanufactured pump? I had a MAJOR headache with the dealer, he had my car a week last go around. He ended up sending the job out to a small shop instead of having his overworked mechanic work on it. I might end up doing it myself, using a OEM pump. The dealer said to call him Monday. I'll watch the coolant level closely till then. He paid another shop to fix it so it should be warrantied by them. Just don't know if I trust them to do it again. Any input is apprecieated. Bill

The type of antifreeze should not have made any difference. Except for the so called "environmentally friendly" (propolene glycol) stuff, all anti-freeze is about 95% ethelyne glycol. The additive package is all that is different. Ethelyne glycol by itself is somewhat corrosive, and the additive package makes it more suitable. In spite of horror stories about incompatability, there really isn't any reason to worry about the different types getting mixed.

The color doesn't tell you anything. It's just dye. The fairly new Prestone "all makes all models" is green, but it's additive package is very nearly the same thing as orange DexCool.

The old Ford green stuff (also know as the "green snott of death") is high in silicate. The silicate falls out of solution after a while and leave behind a bunch of crud. It also allow the coolant to become acidic. Worn out "green snott of death" will cause cooling system problems of all sorts. Three years in the car is pushing your luck, and longer is certain to cause problems.

DexCool is GM's answer to overcoming the "green snot of death", but GM has had problems making a cooling system that works well with this superior fluid. DexCool as delevered in new GM cars and as sold by Texaco breaks down if fresh air is not kept out of the cooling system. Prestone's DexCool has slightly differnt chemistry and does not have the same sensitivity. DexCool uses OAT (organic acid technology) chemistry. This superior additive package permits the coolant to stay in the car much longer. DexCool is dyed orange.

Ford's answer to the "green snott of death" is G05. G05 is call a HOAT technology (hybrid organic acid technology). The additive package includes a very low level of silicate with OAT. This technology was perfected in europe and Mercedes has used it for years. Chrysler also uses it. Ford dyes it gold. Chrysler dyes it orange. Ford has published that G05 (Motorcraft Gold) is suitable for all Fords back to 99. Zerox (Valvoline) has published that G05 is a suitable replacement for the "green snott of death" in all cars. Valvoline has also challenged Prestone's "all makes all models". G05 purchased in a Zerox container is nearly clear, with a slight yellowish tint.

Back to your question. The type of antifreeze should not matter. All are good, even "green snott of death" if changed often enough. What could be bad though is if the coolant is "green snott of death" and is really old. If the coolant was not flushed with the water pump change you may be continually chasing cooling system problems, with the next weakest thing failing next.

And, yes, you could just have another bad water pump.

I would most certainly make sure that you do a thorough coolant flush when changing the water pump this next time.

Also check the belt tension, belt alignment, and so on.

Just a note to tell y'all I changed the pump and belt today, with help from my nephew. Got a plastic impeller pump from NAPA for 50 bucks. Eric was worried that the belt tensioner was too loose because we could move it by hand. We couldn't find one at any local parts stores, probably a dealer part. I read here that moving it by hand is normal. It spins true and doesn't wobble or jump so I took a chance and used the old belt tensioner. Got the Gates Gatorbelt for 22 bucks. The old belt had cracks. Wish me luck. Willie