Water Pump Troubleshooting for Dummies

This water pump is shot!

When you stop and think about it, our two possessions that are most costly most people own – and maintain – are a house and a vehicle. That high cost of maintenance is probably what drives some owners to think they should at least try to fix a problem with the car (or truck) before handing it over to their local millionaire mechanic. eHow.com knew that, so they were perfectly happy to let their contributors write how-to for would-be mechanics... even if those contributors were, themselves, ignorant. You know, like Jennifer Patterson, who tried to explain "How to Check to See If Water Pump Is Bad" for ItStillRuns.com.

We realized that Jennifer was in over her head beginning with line one of her introduction:

"Water pumps push coolant through a vehicle's cooling system, using a fan belt or a timing belt."

Wow... how do you disabuse an automotive ignoramus of that notion? No, Jennifer, water pumps don't "push coolant... [with] a timing belt"! Like any pump, your car's water pump uses something called an impeller to circulate the fluid. It runs by virtue of a pulley driven by the timing belt in most cars, or by the fan belt in older cars.
With that out of the way, let's see where Jennifer's diagnostic skills lead (truth be told, they went straight to Western Tire and Auto):

1. "Look for leaks from under the vehicle."
2. "Determine if there is overheating."
3. "Look for pools of green fluid under your vehicle."
4. "Listen for unusual sounds coming from the vehicle while driving. If you hear a whining sound coming from the heating or cooling vents, that indicates that there is a problem with the water pump."

Apparently, becoming an "expert in the field of computers and health care" didn't give Jennifer time to realize that her numbers 1 and 3 are the same, or that one does not "determine if there is overheating;" one realizes there is overheating! She also left out inspecting the water pump (and its seals) for corrosion and/or a loose pulley.

Oh, well... Such is the problem with forcing those stupid "action verbs" on clueless Dumbass of the Day freelancers like Patterson!

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