My Silverado ss has been leaking coolant very slowly for a month or so now, but now its getting worse now. From my investigation it looks like its coming from the water pump itself, not the gasket. So what's the preferred Water pump around here? Factory GM pump?

 

I would stick with a factory pump, allot of the aftermarket pumps are junk.

 

Alright I'll have to go get a quote on one from the stealership

 

You can find them online too.

 

Try flea-bay for an oem pump and weld the pulley.

 

This.

 

X2 !

Also Pat just installed a new pump, and informed me about better gaskets to use than the factory ones, chime in Pat if you check this, I forget what you said, maybe felpro or something?

 

Alright I'll have to go get a quote on one from the stealership

 

I'll check online for better deals on an OEM one. Maybe on gaskets too.

 

The problem with the original gaskets is that the orange rubber would pull away from the metal. Also the heat cycles would allow the bolts to back off. I have used the new OEM gasket's with Black rubber With the OEM pump and torqued to 20 FT Lb instead of the 18 and have had no issues.

Some one does make a paper style gasket if you feel better about using that style. I found them by looking up a 97-98 corvette which I believe used a paper gasket from the factory.

FEL-PRO Part # 35636
VICTOR REINZ Part # K31627