[gomowgto]

Hey guys, I have a small leak at the bottom of my water pump. it is coming from the bolt on the left side on the bottom just above the timing mark indicator on the timing cover. The leak isn't what is puzzling me the most, it is that it appears to be engine oil. There is no other leak anywhere above or below the bolt, yet the bolt head and the gasket by the bolt head are wet, and it feels like oil. My question is do the bottom two bolts that thread into the timing cover thread all the way through into the timing cover? I know that the bolt nearest the bottom radiator hose threads into a water jacket and that bolt must have teflon sealant on the threads to prevent leakage, I was wondering if those bottom bolts also threaded all the way through into the oiling system and they too needed teflon sealant. Thanks in advance for your help.

[goatman65]

Anti-freeze has an 'oily' feel.Does it have a smell?Or color? The studs don't go all the way thru.

[gomowgto]

Goatman, I just got done removing the water pump, and I think I have found the problem with why it looked like oil on the pump bolts and not antifreeze. I have no studs for mounting the water pump, and the two bottom bolt holes do in fact go all the way into the timing chain area. I looked at a timing chain cover on ebay, and it showed that the bottom three holes in an eight bolt timing chain cover are in fact studs that are probably sealed with teflon thread coating. Two center ones go into the timing chain area,and the third into the bottom radiator hose opening. I stuck a phillips screwdriver into each hole and it went in almost 2 inches, well inside the timing chain area. All eight bolts taken out to remove the water pump were bolts, and the bottom two in the center had oil on there threads. Should I replace them with studs, and if so, does anyone know how long these studs are overall or should I just use the bolts that I have been using and seal them with teflon sealant?? Thanks again for the help guys, It's always an adventure and a learning experience.

[az67goat]

Glad you brought this up. I have an oil leak at the front of my 67 gto engine also. It's not the pan. I'll have to check mine tonight. Thanks.

[spyder]

blue loctite, no teflon in this case.

[gomowgto]

I got the pump on , torqued the bolts to 15 lbs, filled her with antifreeze, and had some leaks, tweeked each bolt one at a time, and now no more leaks. I will keep and eye on her, hopefully I can get a few more road tests on her before this michigan weather takes a s%$# on us. As for the bottom two bolts, I did use white teflon thread sealant on it, I checked with two auto parts stores and they said it would be fine. One place did say that using permatex aviation sealant would have been better, but so far it isn't leaking and he said if it does, drain down the radiator, pull just the bottom two bolts out and reseal them with the other sealant. The guy I talked to works in the machine shop, and he said that there isn't enough pressure in that area, and as long as I have something between the pitches of the threads it should be fine.