Well I have had a leak for a while but could not really find it. When I did my cam swap a few months back I replaces all the gaskets and made sure to clean everything up when I put it all back together. Well it still leaks but when I park on level ground there is no puddle on the ground, but if I park on a slope with the front end higher I can see a puddle under the rear of the motor and it will drip of the rear of the skid plate a little. So I made sure the plugs and the crossover tube on the front of the heads were tight, but same thing still leaks. So anyone know what might be leaking or how to find it?

 

probably the water pump. get a flashlight and look at the weep holes. And also look real close around the housing for moisture.

 

I will give that I try but I still wonder why there is only a puddle if the front is elevated. Were are the weep holes on the water pump?

 

The weep hole can be decieving. You have to really look and see if its leaking from were the pump bolts to the block... It will trickle down the pump and look like its leaking at the weep hole. Some times there is an issue were the bolts back out of the water pump a little... alumminum an steel expand and contract at different rates. This happened on my 00 truck and On my buddies 01. I told him to try tighten the bolts back up with a Tourque wrench first. His Hasn't leaked since. Factory spec is 18 FT LB. I install New ones at work with 20FT Lb. They also had problems with the original gasket design, but I think that was resloved before the 03 model's. The original water pump gaskets, on I believe the 99-02, the rubber would tear away from the metal gasket. They re-dsigned them for a better bond and to eliminate the tearing issue.

At the time it happened on mine, I was only able to get a pump through the dealer. $300 they wanted for just the part. I called a freind and he got me a GM replacment part for nearly half the cost and I know he was still making money on it. I did not relize it was only leaking at the block untill after I tore it down and went to lossen the pump bolts. I was supprised how lose they were. It felt like it was barely snug on there, Later I relized It was the expansion and contraction process that allowed the bolts to losen up just enough. A closer look at the gaskets and you could see were it was seeping past the O-ring on the one side of the pump because the bolts backed off. Looking at the pump upside down after it was off you could see were it was trailing from the block mounting surface down to the weep hole... The Pump looked Brand new inside. I gave it to my friend incase he ended up needing one. The gaskets are ony about $4 each at the dealer...

 

Weep hole is on the bottom side of the pump housing inline with the center of the pump pulley

 

Can't beat the dealer for prices. I used to know a guy who was a d-ship mechanic;he said they sold at cost plus 300%.

 

I have the same damn problem. It overheated on m e just before I put it into storage in June, and when I got it out in December it was fine. You can smell it burning off the block. I tried looking close once and it looks wet in between the block and the pump. I was just going to replace it when I put my radix on, but maybe I will try tightening the bolts? I could also pull it off and put a new gasket on. Rob

 

I had a slow coolant leak for a long time and I could never figure out where it was leaking. I eventually found the leak at the passenger side water pump gasket. Unfortunately, I found it a day before I had to store my truck and I never had time to replace the gasket. I plan on taking care of it when I get my truck out of storage in May.

 

I would bet its the water pump, very common.

 

Yep, these trucks are notorious for water pump gasket leaks and almost all had a hard time diagnosing the source since it leaks so litte.