Hi all, I noticed today that my RB30E+T with a year old Gates water pump was making a bit of a ticking sound. Ive done my belt + water pump about a year ago, and has been fine since. It has never overheated on me, but i have however put on a Spal thermo fan and controller, and to get it kicking on / off, it reaches about 1/2 on the gauge before it drops it back to the usual just above thermostat opening temp. I pulled the water pump belt off and started it, and it ran without the ticking, so i know its the bearing in the water pump. (sprayed a bit of lithium on the shaft and put the belt back on and ok "for now"). I also felt the top radiator hose and doesnt feel like there is any coolant in the top hose (i will confirm once it cools down and pop the radiator cap). - Checked, radiator is full. I pulled a spark plug out, and nothing obvious there, its clean but i also use Ethenol a bit (maybe E50 because it being a high comp, it worked wonders for detonation). The more i think about it, the more i think letting the engine reach 1/2 temp on the gauge might be the culprit.... I always made sure i bled it properly and never had any issues there or in the past. Is 1/2 temp on the gauge enough to potentially warp the head and create a head gasket leak? I also am a bit lost to why the water pump pulley/bearing would be ticking? Could that have ran dry, got hot and cooked the bearing? those are just my ideas thinking out loud, anyone care to discuss or pose some checks before i assume the worst? Hell, if it is a head gasket, hopefully because its still running, i havnt done any major damage and can just chuck a decompression gasket on it and be sweet. Oh, and FYI, im using VLT injectors and VLT ECU on stock boost + FMIC. Oh, also.... my catch can is full (has been for a while) so might be blow-by ? Also, my AFR wideband is reporting fine ratio's I should also mention, i had just put on a new cat-back 2.5" exhaust which was painted black, so maybe its paint burning off? however it was coming out from the pipe, not everywhere... Drained catch can... was very waterery.... but had a oil / cooked type smell.... started it up, didnt get the white like i was getting.... Edit again : So I just bought a cooling system pressure tester kit off ebay $90 will see if it can hold pressure.... Its starting to look like just the water pump bearing was noisy, which is still a concern for me considering it was a new Gates kit about a year ago, but i am not leaking anything, coolant is full in rad, never overheated, and catch can seems to have potentially resolved the white smokey/steam I seem to have answered my own questions here, but ill leave it all here in case someone else can make sense of it. ---------- Post added 23-01-16 at 21:53 ---------- So reading up more and more online, it would seem that water in the catch can could be from either condensation or running the E85.... so i guess thats kinda put that to bed. Now all i have to worry about is the return of the ticking water pump bearing.... Some original photos have not been recovered yet.