I'm have been hearing some squeaking on cold startup and when shifting from neutral into drive but tends to go away at speed. I took off the serpentine belt and the tensioner pulley bearing sounds rough so I'm replacing that, also the guage on the tensioner indicates the serpentine belt tension isnt right so will replace that too, although noise doesnt sound like belt slippage and belt looks great. When I spin the water pump pulley I get a squeak and feel some resistance that a new pump doesnt make, but there doesnt seem to be very much play in the pulley and weep hole isnt leaking. Coolant level always stayed high although it looks to have gone down about 1/2" when viewed under radiator cap-it was always full. So I'm guessing I may be in the early stages of the pump going?-car has 155k, I picked it up at 120k. Not sure if pump was ever replaced. I'm thinking I could push it a little longer but I do have some time to change out the pump this week, just not looking forward to screwing with motor mount! How long do you think the water pump replace would take?

Yeah its the 95 series II 3800

From start to finish including coolant, it should take no more than 2 hours. And from what I remember and Dan'* article, I don't think the mount needs to be removed. Have a read here...
https://www.gmforum.com/mechanical-1...emoval-279222/

Thanks Mike, I did have to remove torque axis-engine mount to gain access to some of the water pump bolts, but not too difficult. I'm wondering if its necessary to put sealant on the water pump bolts that go into the water jacket and if the permatex ultra black will work for that?

Is it rated for coolant environments?

on there site one of the applications is water pump so i would guess its fine

Its all back together, no leaks yet, gave the permatex a few hours, flushed the system and topped it up. With the new tensioner pulley & water pump it is a lot quieter. Was a bit concerned about weak looking stamped impeller on "premium" new pump but it seems to work fine.

Update, I'm still noticing a bit of squeal from new belt at speed on highway and a little at idle...I noticed that with new belt the tensioner reads at the far left or minimum tension end of scale. I'm wondering if I ought to go ahead and replace that tensioner as well? I don't have AC on the car anymore so cant cycle that to see how it responds

Pull the belt off and see how the tensioner moves. Is there pressure, and does it spring back all the way when you let go? If the tensioner is OK you could try using a 1" shorter belt. The belt length is part of the belt part number.

Couldn't find a shorter belt, may need to try to order one. Tensioner seemed to function OK, but it was left of the last hash mark on the scale indicating less tension than optimal-with new or old belt. Picked up a new tensioner. Ran into a snag trying to pull the old one off. There are two metal heater lines that plumb in behind the water pump that are in the way, there are little brackets connecting them to tensioner frame these brackets slip over fasteners with a nut in the middle (the back side of bracket). Not sure if its possible to pull these metal lines out of block once you pull off flexible part that runs into heater core? Alright thanks for the assistance.