HELP Another cooling system Questions

[Robb]

I have been chasing down issues with the cooling system on the barracuda I bought recently. I now have a leak and from the best I can tell (a/c makes it hard to see) it is coming from the very lowest bolt on the water pump.... drip, drip, drip, but it looks like coolant is hitting the belt and spraying when driving. I just replaced the thermostat, but I don't see any leaks up top...

My dumb question of the day is... could the pump gasket just be leaking or is there some sort of weep hole in the pump that indicates the pump is going bad? Also, the pump bolts seemed loose but tightening the ones I could see didn't stop the dripping. How tight should they be? Should I just replace the pump or is there something I can check/do to verify the leak?

 

[1968FormulaS340]

Yes it has a weep hole. Probably time for a new pump.

 

[cudadriver]

Ditto

 

[Robb]

Thanks, that's what I figured. But according to the previous owner, the water pump is not very old (at least not many miles). Does sitting around too much cause water pumps to go bad even with fewer miles?