SUVs and sedans
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By fpena944
#62037
I thought I'd been smelling burning coolant from my CTT but didn't really see a lot of loss in the expansion tank when I checked.

Well just the other day I got the "Low coolant level" light and this time the tank was quite low. Refilled it on Sunday morning, drove around a bit and went to get the oil changed today. Tech called me back and said that the coolant tank is almost empty. So I guess my leak has gotten worse!

Upon inspection the tech says the plastic coolant pipe running under the intake manifold is cracked.

Question now is, should I replace the water pump and thermostat at the same time now? I've had the car 5+ years so it's not been done during my time owning it. I'm thinking yes but just wondering if absolutely necessary.
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By XR4Tim
#62043
Absolutely necessary? No. The leaking coolant pipe won't cause the water pump or thermostat to fail any quicker. I've done many coolant pipe jobs without replacing the water pump or thermostat.
I wouldn't dissuade you from doing so though, since the additional labor would be negligible during that repair.
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By amdavid
#62066
As stated, not absolutely necessary, but also as stated.........."while you're in there".......add 5+ years of use during your ownership and you've justified it.

I did the water pump on my 05 S and it wasn't too bad....as a reference if you decide not to get it done.
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By fpena944
#62068
If I was back in NC then this would be an at-home project with my father. But I have none of my tools here so the only wrenching I'll do is struggle to get my credit card out of my wallet. :biggrin:

I told them to go ahead and do it all. We use this thing way too much to have a ticking time bomb under the hood.
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By terry997
#63556
I became a while in there guy with many multi thousand mile road trips.

If TSHTF in an area were there's barely a cell signal, the cost of a tow and an overnight motel exceeds the additional part cost. Then the inconvenience.

Also why I have the AAA 100 mile tow coverage.
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By fpena944
#63564
terry997 wrote: Tue Mar 02, 2021 10:51 am I became a while in there guy with many multi thousand mile road trips.

If TSHTF in an area were there's barely a cell signal, the cost of a tow and an overnight motel exceeds the additional part cost. Then the inconvenience.

Also why I have the AAA 100 mile tow coverage.
Mechanic decided not to replace the water pump. I gave him the ok but he said it seemed like it had been replaced once before and there was no play in the bearings. Not sure if that was a good thing or not but when I get back to NC me and my dad will go ahead and proactively take care of it the next time we do major maintenance.

Car is running fine again although for several days after the repair I had coolant dripping on my garage floor. Haven't seen any lately so assuming it was just leftover from the repair.

As for the AAA towing, oh boy do I have a story about them...

I was driving from FL to NC a couple of years ago and the old Hyundai Tucson I was in started acting up and basically died around exit 23 in GA. It was probably 11pm. I still had about a "click" until the gas ran out but I know this car had been having some strange ignition issues after running for several hours. So I call AAA and they tell me they'll need 4 hours to get someone to me! Mind you I'm only 40+ miles north of Jacksonville so not exactly in no-man's land. Then they ask where I want it towed. I figured let me get it closer to home so take me to the next town 100 miles up to I-95.

Well they call back about an hour later and tell me, "No one is available for your tow. Can you find somewhere to stay until morning?" OMG that pissed me off. I knew why they didn't want to help, because the tow trucks didn't want to drive 100 miles then turn around. So I then asked if someone could just take me to the next town. By coincidence a tow became available and they arrived within 30 minutes. Of course there's a lot more to this story if you're interested but the tow truck lost my keys, I had to stay in a hotel, I ripped a new one into AAA and they paid me for my room, the new key, me towing the car back to NC, and for my time and troubles.

When I got the car back it ended up being short on gas. It seems the gauge was inaccurate and once filled up started without incident.

I still have AAA but they're on my :poop: list!
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