>It is normal and in fact necessary for the water pump to weep and there
>may be
>more or less droplets depending on how long the engine is running and how hot
>it got etc.  The weeping by design allows the coolant to act as lublicant for
>the water pump bearing.. if it stop weeping you will have a noisy whinning
>bearing which you will have to replace very shortly thereafter.  So a little
>leak here and there is good.. As we say in the computer business.. it's a
>feature .. not a bug...

Well, actually a steady drip isn't good. A properly functioning water pump
will only allow enough coolant to drip to form a stain. You should never
see wet coolant in or around the weep hole. On many cars (Japanese ones in
particular) you won't even see a stain until about 60K miles are on the
pump.

As far as the bearings being lubricated by coolant, that isn't the case.
They are usually sealed bearings, with their own grease supply. The water
pump seal is the only part that benefits from the lubricative properties of
the coolant. Coolant actually makes a very poor lubricant, thus the sealed
bearings.

Joshua Van Tol -- jjvantol@lear.csp.ee.memphis.edu