this morning:
so turned out the **** was defective.. took it back to autozone just fuming after tryin to get it off since last night with proper tools and everything.. realized somethings wrong for sure after it didnt take my whole weigth on itself.. didnt budge a smidge but did start to dig into the plug itself. so now in autozone guy (good dude) experienced takes out a brand new tool cuz I didnt bring mine with me for ****s and giggles... anyway this dude tries 2 different tools and almost hurts himself before snapping off a brand new 3/8 hex bit he just pulled from the box right in front of me ..to then say that is cross threaded on there ..turned out that the jackass at autozone from 3 days ago made a confusing mistake when ordering my new pump which caused a chain of events where my original good pump ended up in the store later ..after I already picked up the second pump they ended up reordering ....so now when I brought that dud back they still had my original ordered pump which not only had the same male plugs as my original one but it looked better quality)) WTF?!

 

I think this is why Folks say "Stay out of the Zone"

 

That's interesting to know. Don't know about nowadays, but Napa stocked either new or rebuilt water pumps, clutch fans, etc. I always bought new rather than rebuilt.

 

taking forever to clean off the old gasket material.. QUESTION: Should I use at least one of my waterpump gaskets or is it garbage and just use the gasketmaker??
Im thinkin Im just gonna use the gasket maker and call it a day since im hearing good things about it and from experience with it and it works very well

..ended up with 3 gaskets ..long story..

 

I got a new one but how can one tell the difference between rebuilt and new??

 

I avoid Auto Zone. Here in TX, they hire guys who couldn't find their own butt with both hands. Most products are in blister packs at high prices. There's always that ONE GUY who has experience, but he's not always working. The others look like they get them from prison furlough or the long-term unemployment office.

Better results here in TX with Advance Auto, O'Reilly, or NAPA (probably the best of all).

 

yep. I noticed that living back in Philly too))

 

Generally when you buy New they do not ask for a Core, when you get rebuilt you generally always have to pay a core charge and turn in the old one to get the Core cost back... often New ones come without plugs installed but come with a hardware pack ...

Rebuilders will often not remove old plugs but will just Glass Bead / Sandblast the old housing then they slap new seal and bearings in them.

Normally the box it comes in is Marked as New or Rebuilt .... even this sometimes cannot be trusted.

 

Where the heck are you, man? Seems you were stuck somewhere with your van and had to work in the rain etc? Hope it's going better. I would avoid that burning man stuff. Lotsa low lifes and drugs there. An old friend started going there and we think he took drugs. Now he's changed, and hardly sees his old friends anymore ( us guys with pickups) hangs with a younger crowd. Rumors of divorce and all kinds of nasty stuff. No party is worth losing your woman.

 

I've always asked them for new versus rebuilt, either that or they asked me which I wanted.

 

I m from Philly ..but lived in NY past 4yrs. cuz of my wife...girlfriend back at the time. we are both sick of NY... I hated most of the city stuff ..loved upstate NY but still the state is not for me... my wife is now convinced and hates it herself so being a musician she wants to check out Austin TX given its much more musically developed and fun state ...so we're gonna check it out and see if we want to start a life there...or we will move on after a few months in we dont feel it.
Im not a mechanic nor did I have any heavy experience around cars let alone old diesel trucks ..buut I red up on it before we got her and I fell in love with the simple mechanics which can literally work forever as long as you take care of it well enough. anyway were rolling out of Brooklyn NY towards Austin TX.. been stuck in Lexington VA for past 6 days due to a blown waterpump. took me 2 days to diagnose the problem properly and thoroughly inspect everything because mechanics are a bunch of shady ****s and Im now convinced of that (thats a whole nother story just happened recently) then another day lost to rain, recon and new parts.. then new pump came a day late took me 3 days to take out everything up to the water pump which turns out is almost half of the engine)) and put it all back together. I finished putting her back together early morning ..around 8AM cuz of hard rain last night stopped me from finishing up and we are camping out since about 7PM after about a 3 hour drive.

I successfully replaced the thermostat, cleaned and polished the housing, cleaned out and replaced the CDR valve, chanded the water pump and belts
we are back to cruising mode) it was a mission for sure.
also I've neen to BM 2 times and it definitely is a different planet but there are over 80,000 people there ofcourse there are people doing all sorts of crap but by far not everyone is a bad apple ..there are little kids ..even pregnant women which I dont know how I feel about cuz its a freaking desert)) anyway the point is that out of 80,000 people there are definitely shady characters but just as well many more awesome and incredible people believe me ,,its not for everyone like climbing Everest you know?))

 

well.. I was more asking what does the difference look like ..cuz they did ask me if I want a new one or rebuilt and I still got a brand new dud))

 

Thanx to all of you that responded with help ..Im thankful for the timely advise and instructional notes they are all seriously appreciated by myself and my amazing wife.
we are happy to be back on the road)

 

Austin isn't a bad place. It's got a lot of hippies that move over from California and drive up land prices, which Austin people then come here and do the same, but if your in an older area that's not trash there tends to be some down to earth people. The music scene is good for smaller groups and people. A lot of good music comes out of this state.

Sometimes Texas feels like a different country to me. People aren't any better or worse here than anywhere else. There just different and seem to have more reserved thoughs and ideas. Sure everyone wants change, but the wrong change is worse than no change.

Just my .02 and take it as that. Wish you the best on the rest of your trip and I hope your a/c works!

 

You even did the CDR. Good.
Welcome to TX. If you settle in the Austin area, just remember this simple phrase. North West. The safer nicer areas are all found N, W, or NW of Austin. East can get you killed fast. South is industrial. The music scene is thriving but so is crime at night in the city. Might want to get your LTC once you have a fixed addy.