| Water pumps have a weep hole in the bottom, outboard of the bearing and seal. The purpose is to make it easy to see when the seal is failing (usually due to the bearing getting loose). If they didn't have a weep hole, the water would leak out around the hole in the housing where the fan shaft penetrates and it would fly everywhere. making it tough to locate the leak. On an e36, however, you really can't see the bottom of the water pump until you take it apart, so the weep hole serves only to minimize the mess.
Radiator hoses are about 4 years old, but that is no guarantee that they don't leak. Radiator is only two years old, but end cap seals can fail prematurely. |