4play More Suburban water leak

Thanks for all your help. The axle drop wasn't that bad.

Got it all together and ran it for about a half an hour up on the jack stands. No leaks. I drove it for about a half a day, no problem. Pulled up to the gate and I had a gusher.

I cannot see exactly where it is. Every time I start it up, it seems a little worse. For a while, it only happened when warm and being driven. Now, when I pour water in the reservoir, it runs out. It appears to be coming down from the bottom side of the water pump if you draw a direct line from the top hose to the bottom of that housing. All the hoses are tight. I wiggle them all and there is no difference in the flow. I cannot figure where the weep hole is on this pump. They are usually directly under the shaft. This leak isn' from under the shaft, unless it is migrating over and dripping. It seems to be off center toward the passenger side, again directly down from the top hose.

I'm thinking I got lucky and I get to pull it apart again and put a water pump on. I cannot figure out what else it could be. I assume if I go that far, I should replace the pump and everything else rather than mess with gaskets or anything.

I hope this rings a bell and you have sound advice once again.
Thanks.

If I may put my 7.5 cents in here (inflation, you know) the LS engine waterpumps of that era seal to the block with an aluminum gasket with red silicon bonded to it.

The silicon lets go and they leak, and it can be hard to see exactly where the leak is coming from.

In addition to that, there's a steel cover on the back of the waterpump that can leak, and, rest assured, there's a weep hole, as well.

One thing for sure, best to find it while it's still together than get in and have a false diagnosis.

Get a mirror on a stick, try getting a look under the water pump. That's most likely where it is, but anything is possible.

Have you felt the pump bearings for looseness?

One thing to add, the pump went out on my '01 Silverado LS engine.

I went through 3 aftermarket pumps, each failing in different ways.

Finally paid the price for a factory GM pump (even though it said made in China). That fixed it.

Yes. When I had everything apart, I thought it smart to replace the belts. When all was off I gave it a good wiggle figuring if there was I?d replace it, and there was no play.

So what?s the smarter play; replace gaskets or replace pump and gaskets?

Probably the biggest lie on the internet is that two products coming from China have to be the same quality!! But bubba just can?t seem to get it through his head

Replace the pump and gaskets, even if just the gasket is leaking. You don't want to do it again in a month when the shaft seal fails and you replace the pump anyway.

Pump and gaskets. Check condition of hose surfaces where they were connected to the old pump before re-using.

SVCummins is exactly right and this is a pet peeve. There is nothing inherently wrong with Chinese parts. They can be superior to USA parts. What matters is what the specifications called for. If a company specifies quality parts and pays the price the Chinese can manufacture things as good or better than Americans. The problem is that many companies specify cheap over quality and the Chinese are happy to comply with that, too. I suspect if GM was having their name put on the product they specified good work.

It's always a guess, but I don't always buy the cheeepest item.