I always thought that slight seepage is normal, but to lube the seal....not
the bearing.
Karl Batzler
-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua Van Tol <jjvantol@USWEST.NET>
To: vanagon@VANAGON.COM <vanagon@VANAGON.COM>
Date: Tuesday, November 17, 1998 6:38 PM
Subject: Re: VC and waterpump ????sss

>>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
>