Water Pump

Big lumps of metals and spanners. Including servicing and fluids.

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JonathanR
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Water Pump

Post by JonathanR »

Morning Peeps
First camp 60 miles from home. Egine sounded noisier than usual then noticed water dripping at rear. Water pump has gone.
In that I am only 60 miles from home can I safely drive back if I stop every half hour to add water and keep an eye on temp gauge?
Many thanks
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Mocki
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Re: Water Pump

Post by Mocki »

How bad is it leaking ?
I would stop more than every hour, you ARE only 60 miles from home , and if your engine warning devices work correctly it will tell you if the coolant level is low IF you trust it is working correctly .

It’ll get you home if you respect it
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itchyfeet
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Re: Water Pump

Post by itchyfeet »

personally I would not risk it
pump making noise is it scraping on the block
a small leak can turn into a big leak instantly
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JonathanR
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Re: Water Pump

Post by JonathanR »

Thanks for advice.
Water is leaking out from outer bearing. Dripping rather than pouring. I can see the risk. I'll set off but call Aa for a tow if things get worse. But note it could suddenly disintegrate. Worried that attempt to replace will shred bolts so want it home so I can soak bolt for a day or two.
Will report back.
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Re: Water Pump

Post by JonathanR »

Well home safe did not have to fill up with water so leak not too dramatic. But on close inspection with the lid off, the angle of pulley looks rather severe so as itchyfeet pointed out I am at risk of having damaged my block. Not sure how much room around impeller.

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itchyfeet
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Re: Water Pump

Post by itchyfeet »

Brickwerks or VWheratige for quality replacement
dont over tighten the belt it kills pumps and alternators

if you had checked that regularly you probably would have felt play

just changed mine before it failed
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Re: Water Pump

Post by CovKid »

Ailing water pumps nearly always make a screeching noise when you start up. Unfortunately its often mistake for belt slip. You'll need to stop a hell of a lot to do the 60 miles and as said, theres a very real (and likely) chance of it giving out and your engine boiling over. If you do attempt it - avoid the motorway at all costs.
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Mr Bean
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Re: Water Pump

Post by Mr Bean »

I don't believe in coincidences so when my WBX developed a noise like the timing gears of a Triumph Speed Twin motorcycle engine on tick over and shortly afterwards the red light on the dash started flashing I suspected the cooling system. Not wishing to grind to a halt on the M3 I pulled into the services and discovered that the sensor probe for the header tank had coolant leaking up the metal contact probes. After drying the electrical connections and plug and checking the levels all seemed OK to complete the journey of another hundred miles. I still had the rattling noise though.

Incidentally: Screeching noise is usually slipping belt on water pump or power steering pump often on lock stops or even alternator which, using simplified calcs for my van, would draw 12 (volts) times 90 (amps) equals 1,080 (watts) equals 1,080/746(watts per horsepower) equals nearly 1 1/2 horsepower charging a fully discharged battery.

I then remembered that I had changed the alternator about three months prior (thanks German and Swedish of Pool) when I was on a family visit and wondered if the spanking new alternator had suffered a case of infant mortality. ( Google Bathtub curve of reliability)
This prompted me to simply run the engine briefly with no fan belt and sure enough the noise disappeared. With no fan belt tension however there was now several millimeters of waggle at the water pump pulley. Thinks :idea: had we over tightened the fan belt on replacement and done the bearings in? :oops: So new water pump and new sensor probe installed.

Two things puzzled me though. How could the pump not leak with all that play in the bearings and was there any relevance re the sensor fault?
Note to self: I must not over tighten fan belt.
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Re: Water Pump

Post by CovKid »

Pump has a pinhole vent in it which does seep when bearings go but usually the engine is hot and any water quickly evaporates. Sometimes the only evidence of imminent failure is either noise, or water sitting in engine mount brackets.
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Mocki
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Re: Water Pump

Post by Mocki »

Well lucky you have the later cooling system , and water pumps are both easy to get and to change on the late system

The early water pump is a nightmare more often than not, both to get and to change
We made it the 400 miles home from Cornwall last September with a knackered water pump on one of our vans ( the early one) there was a good 7 or 8 mm of sideways movement on the pulley , i slackened the belt a tad and we took it gently , AA card at the ready , but like you I wanted it home before I attempted the change

It didn’t leak any coolant , even with that much play

Took two weeks to actually get a replacement at the time so had plenty of time to soak the bolts with penitrating oil
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JonathanR
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Re: Water Pump

Post by JonathanR »

Thanks for all helpful comments and different experiences. A31 home and well below 50 mph all the way. I'm beginning to recognise replacement before things go wrong is best policy. But then on a 27 year old van that's most things. Yes I had a screech which I diagnosed as fan belt and tightened it so got that wrong. Probably should have loosened it to take pressure off bearing. However, I had previously noticed a rumble so had bought a Brickwerks pump to keep in van for longer trips. Just unwrapped and realised I failed to buy the seals. All sprayed with WD40 last night and just about to start surgery once I've deciphered Haynes and Peter Russeks pocket mechanic. Neither particularly clear. Lots of diagrams that just seem to have nuts labelled. Lots of pipes going all over the place and long essays on draining the cooling system. Whatever happened to just undoing a pipe and draining it into nearest surface drain :D
Cheers guys and enjoy the sunshine
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itchyfeet
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Re: Water Pump

Post by itchyfeet »

Start by pulling the hose from bleed rail to the right head as you look from the rear and drain it into a bucket/bowl

release alternator long hinge bolt and the tension bolt, remove belt.

you don't have to take the crank pulley off but it's a lot easier to do it. you are lucky you don't have a tripple pulley, lock the engine with a bolt through in to the flywheel and release the pulley bolt, remove pulley.
I have a shortened socket for this you will need to find a suitable socket as the tin is close.

remove the water pump pulley, two spanners on and one bolt will release, then fit a longer bolt into that hole to stop the pulley rotating and release the other two bolts.

then with a bowl underneath release the two metal pipes to the water pump, use a proper socket set hex bit for this not a cheap allen key, you will end up with about 3-4 litres of coolant in the bucket/ bowl, you might loose a litre.

next three nuts and the pump comes off.

ImageP1020799 by Paul_Barr, on Flickr

ImageP1010274 by Paul_Barr, on Flickr

2,1 but very similar shows crank and water pump pulley off, now easy to get to the metal pipe bolts

ImageP1100081 by Paul_Barr, on Flickr

when it's all back pour in the coolant most will go back, open the bleed valve on top of the thermostat housing and some more will go in, cap on start then cap off at cold idle and probably get most in, run up to hot and get the rest in + any top up needed to replace what is lost when cool next day.
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JonathanR
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Re: Water Pump

Post by JonathanR »

Many thanks itchyfeet for posting with photos. A great help, particularly the trick of removing the main pulley. I had not realised there was a hole there. I had tried to remove the main pulley some time ago and had faced the problem of space with a socket so bought a large ring spanner. But had still not managed to loosen it so the bolt trick worked wonders - must remember to remove before starting engine. The ring spanner is Ok for removing but will have to find a suitable socket to torque it back up again.
The pump pulley came off easily but again had not thought of putting on a longer bolt to lock it. Haynes I think suggests squeezing the fan belt.
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Re: Water Pump

Post by JonathanR »

Well managed to get the old one out. Interestingly with the three nuts removed it would not release. Tried prising it off but kept on springing back. The bottom bolt had rusted into the pump body. So took out land rover tool number one and gave a few well placed hits and it came free.
On unwrapping my new aftermarket pump, I found it had not come with the seals nor the blanking bolt. So next to useless. A quick trip to JK sourced 2 out of 3 of the seals but they only sell the blanking bolt with their pump. Mine came from Brickwerks, who are currently not answering their phone. Anyone know the size of the bolt to blank it off - I suspect it is M10 but a finer thread.
My box of bolts are sadly all imperial.
Thanks for any guesses
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itchyfeet
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Re: Water Pump

Post by itchyfeet »

JonathanR wrote:Well managed to get the old one out. Interestingly with the three nuts removed it would not release. Tried prising it off but kept on springing back. The bottom bolt had rusted into the pump body. So took out land rover tool number one and gave a few well placed hits and it came free.
On unwrapping my new aftermarket pump, I found it had not come with the seals nor the blanking bolt. So next to useless. A quick trip to JK sourced 2 out of 3 of the seals but they only sell the blanking bolt with their pump. Mine came from Brickwerks, who are currently not answering their phone. Anyone know the size of the bolt to blank it off - I suspect it is M10 but a finer thread.
My box of bolts are sadly all imperial.
Thanks for any guesses


M10x1 but it should come with the bolt and seals assuming you bought the 1.9 pump?


email Brickwerks don't phone them, they will respond quickly.

https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/t3-parts/e ... e-1-9.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/t3-parts/e ... -2-1i.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
1988 DG WBX LPG Tin Top
1989 DJ digijet WBX Holdsworth Villa 3 Pop Top
itchylinks

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