Bad car water pump symptoms (Helpful Guide)

To make sure your car is running well, there are several things you have to pay attention to. While oil and oil levels are essential, it’s also crucial to check for the water pump. Because when that goes bad, the coolant mechanism of your car gets severely disrupted.

Sooner or later, you will see damages on different parts of your engine. Sometimes the machine may come to a complete system failure as well. That’s why knowing the bad car water pump symptoms is so important.

This way, whenever you see the symptoms, you can quickly fix them. Now, to help you out even further, I bring you the five common symptoms you get to see in a bad water pump. Let’s get started with it.

Types of water pump

Before I take you into the symptoms, let’s check out the different types of water pumps that exist. Depending on the model, you can have either of them in your car. Here are the 2 types of water pumps you should be aware of.

Mechanical water pump

You can find a water pump with mechanical drives in the V-ribbed or toothed belt drive of your car. The working mechanism for such a water pump is absorbing heat from your cylinder head and engine block. Then, releasing it into the air through the radiator.

This kind of pump is placed on the pump housing that is usually outside the engine. Or you can find it in the engine block as well.

Electric water pumps

An electric water pump is quite different from a mechanical one. It essentially diminishes the emissions you get from engines these days. The cooling is done through the number of revolutions you get from the motor. This results in reducing the friction losses and fuel consumption as well. Altogether, this water pump focuses on cooling based on adaptability. So, they are much more efficient in operation.

Aside from that, you may get to see other varieties of water pumps like auxiliary water pumps and variable water pumps. Additional water pumps are just a support unit for the main water pumps. And the variable water pump only acts, when necessary, thorough vacuuming. It’s pretty efficient in functionality. 

Bad water pump symptoms

Regardless of the water pump type, you can face issues and symptoms pretty common to all of them. Let’s check out the signs to get them fixed right away because you don’t want to ignore the problems with your water pump.

Coolant leakage

Whenever you see coolant under wherever you park your car, that’s a clear sign of a bad water pump. Some gaskets on your water pump eventually wear out at some point. This causes coolant to leak from the pump.

Usually, the leakage looks like a puddle of pink, orange, blue, or maybe green liquid. You will see this leakage every time you move your car from a place where it’s been sitting for a while. You have to make sure to get your car checked as soon as you see this symptom.

Related: Bad Radiator Cap Symptoms

Deposit and rust building up.

With a bad water pump, you can see rust and deposit building upon your water pump. This mostly happens when there is some kind of leak on the pump.

Several things can cause the leak, but one common issue is incompatible coolant. Other than that, a defective pressure cap can also cause this issue.

While checking under the hood, if you see any kind of rust building up on your water pump, make sure to get your car checked right away.

Whining sounds from acceleration

Do you get whining noises every time you accelerate? If so, then you might want to look into your water pump. A bad water pump can cause the accessory belt to loosen at times. When that happens, your car will make a very high-pitched noise that sounds like whining.

However, there are lots of reasons that can cause this kind of noise. Nevertheless, it’s better to get your car checked if this issue is happening to your vehicle. Any unusual noise from your engine can be concerning for your vehicle.

Overheating engine

Since the water pump is responsible for the cooling mechanism of your car, you will surely come across as overheating when it goes bad. You will notice the temperature gauge in your vehicle rising to extreme extents. It is a clear sign that the coolant mechanism isn’t working.

Well, everyone knows an overheating engine in a car is never a good thing. So, you have to get it checked for a bad water pump when this happens. There are some other causes for this problem as well. Nonetheless, it’s essential to check your overheating engine issue.

Related: car overheats when ac is on

Radiator steam

Steam coming out of the hood can never be good news for a car owner. If you see it coming from the car radiator, there is undoubtedly something wrong with the water pump. The steam is closely related to an overheating engine.

When the engine heats up to an extreme level, it just starts blowing off steam from the radiator. It is a clear sign which you can never ignore. Stop driving immediately when this happens while going. Then, get your car checked for a bad water pump.

Usually, these signs indicate something wrong with your cooling system, which is primarily the water pump.

Wrap up

To sum up, keeping up with the bad water pump symptoms is important because it can lead to greater damage. It can turn your engine completely bad at some point. So, the repair, in that case, can be pretty costly compared to replacing or repairing a bad water pump.

This is a problem you should never avoid. Because it results in drivability issues, make sure to get your car checked by a professional mechanic immediately after noticing any one of the symptoms.

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