Yesterday on the road the low coolant message came up. The engine temps stayed normal so I was not immediately alarmed. When I checked it the resevoir was almost empty but there was coolant visible. I have isolated the problem at the hose leading into the water pump or that area.
It is a slow drip when engine is running not a full release. Its not real visible but based on the slow drip I am guessing (hoping) its either the hose or water pump gasket.
Hose replacement seems pretty straight forward.

What am I looking at if its a water pump gasket or pump replacement based on difficulty and cost? (2002 LB7 in sig)

Thanks

It is probably the piece of hose connecting the two metal tubes right above the fan pulley. It is a common problem. I just replaced the piece if hose and put hose clamps on it instead of the spring clamps.

JESSE

I pulled the plastic skid plate off from the underside and got a better look at the area. It is not the small hose that connects the metal tubing (Thanks for the suggestion). It definitely seems like it is coming from where the water pump meets the block. Directly behind where the radiator hose connects to the water pump there is a small dip in the housing. It looks like that area is dripping.

How can a gasket suddenly go bad? Anyway looks like I will need to pull the water pump off. Any suggestions to help the process?

Search is your friend.

All the info you need is in this thread (http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113310&highlight=Water+Pump).

I searched "Water Pump" earlier but got 20 pages
It seems the water pump has been problematic for many on here. The replacement does not sound fun.

Does anyone have a schematic of where the weep hole is located. It sounds like this may be my problem but I do not see a weep hole on the water pump.

Is the Duramax water pump covered under the 5yr 100,000 mile warranty? The chevrolet.com webpages states it is covered.

If so good news since I am at 87,000 and not quite 5 yrs.

It sounds like the water pump to me. Its covered under the 5yr/100k.