1998 Dodge Caravan Water Pump

Which engine do you have? 3.3L engine takes 15 minutes to replace the water pump. 3.0L engine takes 4 hours. If you drain the coolant at the radiator petcock, there's a good chance you will break the plastic housing and have a leak that will require replacement of the radiator. Better to just pull a hose loose to drain the coolant.

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3.3L is American-made. 3.0L is made by Mitsubishi. Both have the oil pump driven by the crankshaft, not the water pump. You still haven't told us which engine you have.

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And hence the confusion. The 2.4L engine is a four-cylinder engine, not a V-6. The water pump is driven by the timing belt. I never replaced one of these, but a similar design on my very high mileage 3.0L V-6 took me four hours to replace. The vehicle was on a hoist, and a large jack stand was needed to hold the engine up so one of the mounts could be removed. You can do the same thing by bolting the engine to a chain attached to a pipe placed across the strut towers.

This type of water pump has a very low failure rate. It is more likely the water pump inlet tube or its O-ring are leaking. If it really is the pump that is leaking, the pulley will also be loose, but you will have to do some disassembly to check for that.

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Easiest is to pressurize the system with a pressure tester, then look for the leak. That's not always easy because it can be buried. On my 3.0L, when the tube or O-ring leak, coolant will run out on top of the transmission bell housing on the driver's side of the engine if it's parked with the right tire a little higher than the left tire.

There is also likely to be a small diameter bypass hose above the water pump that is a common source of leakage and very inexpensive. Head gaskets are another issue. You might see white stains running down the block where coolant had been leaking.

How fast, or how much does the coolant leak? When my water pump went out years ago, after filling the radiator, I had a hard time going two miles before it was all drained out and the engine started to run hot. Made a lot of noise too.

For very small leaks, you can purchase a small bottle of dye to add to the coolant. After driving it for a while, you look for bright yellow stains when shining a black light on the area.

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