Does a water pump actually pump water (in your car's cooling system) ????

It pumps coolant, which is normally a mixture of antifreeze and water. It should be called a coolant pump. It won't last long pumping pure water, because it will rust or corrode, and the bearings will fail sooner, because antifreeze tends to be a better rust and corrosion inhibitor and lubricant for the pump bearings than plain water. I imagine it's one of those old terms from the early days of internal combustion engines that just keeps hanging on from the days when they really did use just water. Kind of like when someone tells you to dial a particular number on your cell phone. There is no dial. There is a keypad on which you enter the number. Dialing is an old term that relates specifically to rotary telephones, but it refuses to go away.

Manufacturers didn't start using antifreeze until 1960 (see link). Prior to that it was all water- thus the term water pump. Plain water in an engine block will freeze if the car is not run everyday. When water turns to ice it expands and sometimes in these older cars crack the engine block. This is the reason for Freeze Plugs. The expanding cold water would hopefully push a freeze plug out before the water froze and cracked the block. Antifreeze as the name suggests doesn't freeze. This was the major advantage of antifreeze over water + it has a higher boiling point (made even higher by pressurizing the coolant with a pressure cap). The Water Pump is a true Pump and it pumps the coolant in a circle from the engine to the radiator and back again. It is a Centrifugal Pump I believe.

http://www.samscars.com/sam-8-2.htm#Customer

The radiator actually holds the water/coolant and the pump circulates the mixture throughout the engine. Upon returning to the radiator, the water is cooled from air passing through the fins of the radiator. The pumps job is to circulate the mixture in order for the hot water to cool hence, the engine is then cooled.

Not a bad guess! A water pump circulates the water it has a fin type impella that when it turns it forces the water to move through the rad, and cooling system. when you add antifreeze, the system mixes it has it flows through the system.

Simple Tips: ck belts often make sure their not worn or fraed, have system flushed every 2-3 years, new raditor cap and thermostate!....Always vk fluid level when eng. is cold, never when it's hot.....Keep trucking good biddie !

A water Pump does pump water around the engine keeping it at an operating temperature.You Dummy.

The water passes through the radiator and is cooled, the anti-freeze stops the water frezzing in extreme conditions, the water pump is driven by the timing belt and "pumps the re-circulating water through the radiatior which is cooled by the air forcing through as you drive forward thisn in turn cools the engine.

You know water doesn't cool your car / engine ?! You better keep reading. And yes the water pump actually pumps.

I suppose they could call it a "antifreeze-water mix pump"

Seems kind of silly though.

Or maybe you would preffer:

"Belt driven, automotive design, engine coolant recirculator pump"

yes you are correct, it does pump water/antifreeze mix.

yes, it pumps the coolant or water throughout the engine block and through the cooling system. it usually is belt driven