Bad gasket or leaking from the weep hole.

 

If the source is the weep hole, the shaft seal is trashed, and the pump should be rebuilt or replaced.

 

Did you use thread sealant on the bolts? Might be weeping out a bolt hole.

 

I cannot recall (thread sealer), rebuilt the engine 4 years ago, just now getting it installed in the car and going (job forced move and work schedule has limited my working on the Mustang days). Do all bolts require sealant or just 1,2,3 7,8, and 9? Is it worth a try to pull those bolts and seal them or reseal them rather than pulling the pump off and starting all over?

 

Is it worth a try to pull those bolts and seal them or reseal them rather than pulling the pump off and starting all over?
View attachment 742864

I definitely think it's worth it...


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Only the 4 long ones go into a water jacket.

 

FWIW, I always use straight water when firing up an engine for the first time. Why?
1. If you have a leak or have to drain the coolant you aren't wasting antifreeze or making a slimy mess.
2. If you have a leak into the crankcase, you don't have to worry about silicates in the antifreeze wiping your bearing babbitt material.

 

If you don't have a pressure tester, buy, borrow or rent one so you can test the system and try to pinpoint the source.

 

The same technique used to find tricky oil leaks should work for you. Clean it all off and dry it as best you can. Then spray it with some kind of foot powder. Some folks just fling baby powder at the area. Whatever you can grab. I prefer the spray cans as they are easier to apply, especially upside down on transmission leaks.
Make it leak. A pressure check would be favorite but it appears all you'd have to do is wait. The leaking liquid will leave a wonderfully obvious dark trail leading back to the source. Fix it and then simply rinse away the powder with some water. Or Windex if you like.

 

Ok GypsyR, did the Dr Sholles on the water pump flange, blew into the radiator, and confirmed my 1st findings, leaking at the bottom flange of the water pump. The water pump was not completly sealed, when I blew into the radiator, air was easily heard and antifreeze easily flowed through the bottom flange.

Timing chain cover is a California Pony Cars aluminum, I believe the instructions stated that a water pump with a backing plate must be installed.

Water pump off, tell me what I did wrong.

Question 1: Top pic, wrong gasket or wrong application over the backing plate bolts (red circles)?

Question 2: Top pic, the water ports are not sealed all the way around (red arrows), wrong gasket or is this normal?

Question 3: Bottom pic, the water ports on the timimg chain cover, I can see where I applied gasket sealer, but no gasket was ever sealed the water port all the way around, same question as above, wrong gasket or is this normal?

Question 4: Thinking about replacing the water pump with a Flow Kooler brand, you thoughts?

Thanks for everyones help in advance! Hopefully will have her back togetther this weekend to finally, start her up. Now, clean Dr Sholles off the front of the clean engine!

 

Oops, looks like you got your gaskets mixed up. The open one goes under the cover plate. Just as you suspected by your arrows. Where you have it the coolant runs behind the cover and out the little weep hole at the bottom.

 

What Matter said. The tombstone looking openings are supposed to be surrounded by gasket. The rest of that particular gasket doesn't matter except to make sure the pump rests evenly across the timing cover. The area you drew the arrows on should be nothing but air. The hole at the bottom is a breather, so the air isn't trapped and cause problems as the engine heats up and the air in that area expands and later contracts.

 

Why did the water pumps have a backplate, and not just use the timing cover for the seal? I think the early Mustangs did it this way. What was the reason for the change?