1996 F350 5.8 351

every once in a while i hear a chirping sound from what i believe is the water pump. its just a chirp or two while at idle on very rare occasion. this has been happening for about 9 months now. i pulled the belt and the bearings are nice and tight with no play. the pump also keeps the truck cool, so no concern over its performance. it's just that chirp that makes me nervous.

It is the original pump and has 110,000 miles on it. i plow with the truck and can't afford a breakdown. So now that winter is on its way, i think that if nothing else, it would be good preventative maintenance to install a new one.

i can get pumps anywhere from $15 up to around $100. i want a high quality pump that will give me another 100,000 miles of trouble free service. I don't want to go cheap, but i also don't want to spend more than i have to. any specific pumps you recommend?

 

Rock auto has an Airtex pump, it's the heavy duty version, for $46
AIRTEX Part # AW4044H <INPUT id=node499part7moreinfo class=moreinfo_default title="Click for more information about this part" value=Info type=button> Includes Gasket
OPTIONAL HEAVY DUTY VERSION

I was told that my 2000 7.3 came from the factory with a Airtex pump with fords name on it.

 

I bought the Gates for my truck. $21.99, now a days you never really know where they are made.

 

thanks for the info. a lot of times certain aftermarket part producers may in fact be the OEM supplier.

so if i can spend $50 on an airtex pump versus over $100 from the dealer for the exact same pump with a "motorcraft" stamp on it, then the decision is a no brianer.

anyone else know of airtex being a Ford OEM supplier? or have any other opinions on pumps?

 

i'm going to be getting the pump in a couple of days.

any other thoughts on water pumps before i make the purchase?

 

If you can spare the extra $, I would order a timing chain gasket kit and front crank seal. Lesson learned the hard way with my truck... I went to replace the water pump and ended up fighting the bolts that go into the water jacket. All of them were corroded internally and stuck (which is a common problem) and part of what I did to get them free was put some FIRE to 'em! Well the timing cover gasket must have disagreed with me using heat because after I got it back together it was leaking coolant from the timing cover. Had to tear it all down again and replace that gasket, and while I was in there I also did a timing set (chain and sprockets) for good measure since the original set had ~225,000 miles on it.

If you don't need the gasket kit then you can return it. And the front crank seal I suggested just because if you pull the timing cover you might as well take 2 minutes to replace that as well since it's already in your hands.

 

thanks dixie. thats good advice. i am aware of the bolt issue that affects the windsor small blocks. i guess i've been lucky becuase i've never snapped a bolt on any of the 289s, 302s, or 351s that i've ever worked on. maybe this 351 will break my streak!!!