I noticed that the coolant level in the reservoir had dropped, so I looked for a leak. All hose connections looked dry, so I used my pressure tester on a cold engine to check again. Pressure remained at 15 psi and only slowly fell after about 10 minutes to about 10 psi. H-m-m; slow leak somewhere else?
I topped up the reservoir and drove a few miles. I left a piece of cardboard under the car overnite, and noticed a puddle the next morning. I jacked up the car, removed the front right wheel and splash panel. Sure enough, I saw that the coolant pipe behind the exhaust and the oil pan were stained.
Looks like the water pump is leaking, but I'm surprised because I replaced it when I replaced the head gasket at 95K miles. Now at <170K, I'm not happy that an aftermarket Bosch water pump should fail at 75K. I inspected the timing belt, but it looks dry, though it makes sense that any leaking coolant would be flung off.
Also noticed that once the reservoir is empty and the radiator coolant level has also dropped, that the leak rate is much slower. Is this a case of the coolant level in the system dropping below the level of the pump?
Only way to know for certain is to disassemble the timing belt and check the pump. I don't plan keep the Eclipse much longer (has a few dents and paint is faded), so is there a risk in not replacing the timing belt (due in 25K miles) and pulleys while after I disassembled everything? Probably will replace the accessory belts as they're not expensive.
