Catastophic Water Pump Failure
Driving home this arvo and the water pump let go and put everything into the radiator.

I had no classic symptoms, just an odd squeal every now and then so i checked all pulleys for movement, seizers over the week end
The water pump felt fine and no movement so i replaced the drive belt and everything seemed fine.
Started her this morning made a bit of a squeal and it went away. I went down to the diesel shop this arvo to give the boys a hear and it did not play up
So i left got down the road a bit and it started squeal bad so in the process of turning around i lost power steering and alarm bells started to ring so i pulled over stopped the truck
I had smoke pouring out from the bonnet, opened her up and the drive belt was threaded, coolant everywhere and the fan in the radiator
Rung the RACQ for a tow truck, told to send thier biggest tilt tray ,Well the 1st fellow to arrive with his tilt tray, the F250 was longer than
his truck{got to see the funny side of this}

Has any one else had this problem. Won't know how much this is going to cost me until we get to pieces
Cheers,
Patchy

Good thing you were not far from home.
Sounds like it let go in a big way.
My old Landcruiser has been making squeeling noises
of late so I had better check it out.
I can't say I have had the problem with the Ford.
I do have a perfectlry good water pump here if you need it.
Don't know what freight from Adelaide will cost though.
Very sorry to hear about your troubles. I have never heard of such a bad failure.
A new radiator is about 450 - 500 dollars, I have a new one sitting in my shed.
A new water pump can be ordered from Clay
I have a new original Ford water pump that I ordered from Clay sitting in my shed should the same happen to me. I can send it to you and you can just replace it in time if you like.
Just let me know.
,Went down this arvo to look at the carnage.
Water pump self destucted around the bearing, impeller came a drift,ended up with half a fan,and the radiator nearly made it without a mark on it, but the fan caught it right on the top
Anyhow got all the all the parts and sundries for $1600.
They should be here on friday, hopefully back on the road on the weekend
I'll get some photos of the mess and post them.
Cheers,
Patchy
Over the years I've heard this being discussed on the US bro forum, and I had a chat to Clay himself when he was out here.
There is a theory that sand, either liberated from the engine casting, or as silica precipitating out of the coolant, can trigger a water pump failure.
I've added a coolant filter to try to guard against this - see them here:
http://www.dieselsite.com/coolantfiltration.aspx
One other thing. When I changed my coolant filter for the first time I decided to cut the old filter open. I didn't want to buy a $90 filter cutter tool, and I didn't want to cut it open with an angle grinder as I would probably introduce cutting disk dust into the equation. So I adopted a low tech approach. Stump & axe. And yes, I found sand in the old filter.

The fan did not fare well

We came to the conclusion the bearing collapsed

The impeller came off its spline, Lucky it did not do any damage to the front of the motor, My mate has seen one that has left a deep scour on the motor

I was a tad unlucky with the radiator, Not as much damage as I first thought
The truck was due for new coolant, I just done it the expensive way

All good now

Cheers,
Patchy
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I thought knew when water pumps were on the way out, leaks, making noise, This one got me

On the bright side ,Time to change the tranny oil looking sad

Keep an eye out for irregular noise
As I said it was not a consistent noise

The photos are coming SSSimon
Cheers,
Patchy
Last edited by Patchy 73; Jul 18, 2014 at 07:11 AM. Reason: too many jack dainels
Ford Trucks for Ford Truck Enthusiasts
Got the truck back, Got the old raditor back and notice the tranny fluid is looking sad, time to change it
Got on to All American Drive line to send me up a filter and pan gasket for 71 clams
Should i go for a larger volume sump pan,seeing i'm changing the ATF fluid
Cheers,
Patchy
From reading the US Bros forum, big pan gives you longer trans warm up time and little else. Any $ is better spent on a bigger trans cooler. Can't see what mods you've already got from your signature line, but worth considering:
- bigger trans cooler;
- external trans filter;
- coolant filter (to help avoid another WP failure);
- John Woods valve body (easy fit up with pan & filter out - remembering 'Wallsy's incorrect fitment issue').








