so I go to start my car this morn to go out and run errands. I hear what sounds like someone is shaking around a chain in my engine. It gets worse....i open up the hood to look around, see if i can see something. There is oil lightly sprayed on my bright red MSD coils and my accsessory belt is shiny...I touch the belt and my hand now has oil on it. Whats up?? I check the oil...down a half quart so I add it and drive around the block. She runs fine besides the grinding sound. Come back...more oil splashed. I call the dealer to make an apointment to have looked @....they cant get her in untill Monday. The dealer is bout 20min away but im afraid to drive it up there like that. Any ideas?? anyone else ever have this problem???

well...i guess I was wrong. wasnt oil splashed every where. It was Dexcool. Even worse...the grinding sound went away so stupid me figured it was just a one time funny sound thats now gone, took it out for a drive. All of a sudden i couldnt turn....I pull over (barely w/ no steering) to see the belt slipped and Dexcool EVERYWHERE!! My once show car clean baby is now covered in antifreeze. It somehow even managed to spray over the fender!! And a huge puddle of antifreeze coming out from the car under the passenger side.. So...its being towed to the garage now....hopefully just a water pump.

Herein lies a lesson. Quite simple, actually, but all too frequently given the ostrich treatment because we don't want there to be anything wrong. Certainly we don't want to be inconvenienced at that moment. Usually we get inconvenienced far more so later as a consequence, though.

Had a carpool friend who was really hard on cars. His (relatively new) car blew a head gasket, started spewing clouds of steam out of the exhaust pipe but he pressed on seeking an offramp with a convenient gas station. Soon the overheat light comes on, pinging starts, but still he bravely presses on. He made it to his offramp of choice about 4 minutes later but by now the oil light's on too. Finally he pulls into a gas station where the car's finally allowed to die . What coulda been a head gasket replacement only became a complete engine rebuild.

Fast forward six months, and right after he picks me up one morning I noticed steam wafting from the side of his hood. He decided to return to his house which is about a mile away and get another car. He pulled over and parked it though when he was asked how far he thought he could get with it bleeding its guts out this time. We used my car to get to work, and he then had his towed later on. Fortunately, this was the last of his costly car adventures. In the five years I carpooled with him and while I was with him he blew three transmissions, one timing belt, had his right rear wheel come off on the freeway (we had about 15 seconds warning when the back end started swaying and shaking as the rim was breaking apart around the bolt pattern), totally burned up an engine, then almost burned it up again.

One time when my wife was returning from the grocery store which was about 1/2 a mile away, she noticed that there was a lot of something running out under the car. About half way home, the transmission started slipping more and more, expecially the last couple hundred yards being uphill. She didn't quite make the driveway. When I came home I found a split hose on the transmission cooler. The "blood" trail from the store parking lot all the way to my street was visible for over a year. Remarkably, putting on a new hose and pouring seven quarts of transmission fluid into the belchfire behemoth put everything right. It soldiered on for another six years before it took its final ride. Christine comes to mind every time I think of poor Ellen (car name given by daughter) being forced toward home while rapidly bleeding to death.

I love telling horror stories. Bottom line, ya hear something that sounds bad or see something that looks bad, shut it off as soon as you can and don't run it again until you've diagnosed and/or fixed the problem.

Glad your car's going to be OK. It probably was/is your coolant pump. Yes, Dexcool does look a lot like oil. Hope your fender paint doesn't discolor as a result. Let us know how it all turns out.

Regards, Gary in Sandy Eggo

Thanks....at least I dont feel quite as dumb now....LOL. Water Pumps being replaced right now. $250 including the tow...I suppose it could have been worse. At least I was only a half mile from home and was able to walk...had I been coming home from work 45min away I must say, i would have pi$$ed!!!

My water pump went out about 4 months ago in my 97' GTP cost about the same. I had a bunch of steam pouring out from under my hood one day after work. I let the car cool and started her up and noticed my temp gauge going crazy. I then checked the tention on the serpentine belt, it would not budge so I simply smelled the water pump and knew that was the problem. The next morning I topped off the water and went to the service center with the heat on full blast. I made it w/out a problem. The service guy said I was very lucky. I have a friend with a 97' GT that had the same exact problem. The moral of the story is if you own a 97' GP just get a new water pump. You don't want to be on the interstate or in the boonies and have this happen!! Jim

Sorry dont mean to put any one out. but 250 for a water pump.. AHHHHH. my part cost me bout 40 bucks. and bout 20 or so for the dexcool. 45 min later new water pump. dang. dealers make their money. and my part has lifetime warranty. i never have seen a gm part that does.

Water pumps on these engines (3.1/3100 & 3.8/3800) are pretty easy to replace. However, not everyone is "confident" to do this themselves. Regarding the Warrantee, all that means is you'll get another one free if the one you bought fails. Now, if they'd just cover the "labor" also, I'd be a happy guy.

There was one time I was SO glad I didn't do a job myself. The rack-&-pinion steering assy needed replacement on my 1986 3.8L Olds 88. The shop agreed to use a "rebuilt" assembly which was half the price of a new one. Bless their hearts, but it was a mistake on their part because the rebuilt part had the seals installed backwards, and the guy had to do the whole job over before he ever delivered it to me. I guess there IS a reason most repair shops refuse to use rebuilt parts.

Regards, Gary in Sandy Eggo