Hello once again ladies and gents. Have another issue that I think I know the solution to, but just want to get a few more opinions on it before I start buying parts. So basically, I developed a fairly large coolant leak this afternoon. It's a strange one though. I drove three hours straight today with only 2 stops that lasted like 5 minutes each. Got to my destination and didn't notice any major leaks or puddles under the truck.

Let the truck sit for about 45 minutes (still no puddle), then took it on about a 20 minute drive to a family members house. Shut the truck off, go inside and hang around for about an hour or two. Come outside to a decent size puddle of coolant on the driveway. Get to looking around and only spot I can see that's damp is directly above the crank pulley. However, I didn't poke my head around too much cause I didn't want to get hot coolant dripped on me. Oddly enough, the degas bottle hadn't lost a lot of coolant, but I topped it off with some distilled water anyways before I left to go back to my house. The whole time I'm backing out of his driveway, he tells me he can still see a drip. I get home and look underneath expecting to see a layer of coolant under the truck. What do I see? Nothing. Dry as a bone. Even after letting the truck idle for like 20 minutes once I got home, still no drip or puddle. The truck has now been sitting for about an hour, and it's still dry.

I know this is a lot, but my guess is that the weep hole in the water pump was what was leaking. Think I'm right or could it be something else? Only other thing that I could see that it might be was the lower hose that goes from the radiator to the water pump. The elbow that comes off the pump is fairly rusted, and I could see some drip marks on that hose. But the drip marks could just be from the coolant splashing from when I was driving.

Last question...Is the water pump an item that I need to/should go with motorcraft? Or is something like a gates a good option? As always, thanks in advance for any help and advice.

 

In my opinion with parts such as water pumps, I will use OEM replacement parts only. My original lasted 15 years and 100,000 miles, I don't see parts store reman's lasting that long. Just my 2 cents.

 

Your first thought is probably right. It is not uncommon for the weep hole to expel coolant intermittently. At some point it will fail completely and the truck will be stopped in its tracks.

As for replacement, RiffRaff has Airtex (I believe that is it) that a lot of the fellas here use. Some of us have installed the IH pump with an integrated filter.

The problem should be addressed sooner rather than later though.

If you have a truck that can accept ELC, this would be a good time to switch to it.

 

My water pump acted the same way on it's way out. Dripped some times and bone dry the others. I put it off for a while and changed it at my leisure.

I went with the IH pump with integrated coolant filter. The only thing I would've done differently is paint the pump before installing, it is cast iron and started to rust almost immediately.

I went with a Donaldson Blue coolant filter that is an extended life filter with synthetic media so no worries of it falling apart over multiple years. Donaldson says it is good for the life of the coolant, as long as it doesn't clog.

Edit: I'm also running ELC.

 

So today I learned I can use IH parts on the IH motor. Seems like a no brainer and I didn't think of it. This is a forum that just keeps on giving. Thanks guys.

 

That's how my pump acted when it was going out as well

 

Alliant pump from Strictly Diesel or Alliant ....equivalent to stock Ford and all I have ever used. Brand new, not remanned.

 

The Alliant pump looks very promising. Quite a bit cheaper than the motorcraft one and it comes with a gasket and a new elbow. I would love to go to ELC, but unfortunately, I have an E99 and don't wanna risk it.

So the Alliant pump is almost identical to the pump that came on the truck, or is it exactly identical? The alliant pump is $180 on full force diesel (they're closer to me than strictly diesel is) and the motorcraft on riffraff is $240 and doesn't come with a new elbow. The motorcraft on rockauto is $200.

 

Yup, go Alliant. You won't be disappointed. It is identical and same same in quality. And yes, stay away from ELC in your E99.

 

Have you checked out this one from Riffraff?

https://www.riffraffdiesel.com/water-pump-oem-7-3l/

I get them from Clay when I can wait on the shipping and comparing to the Motorcraft I can’t tell the difference except the price is $100 less.

 

So I ended up going with the Alliant pump and picked it up today from my local diesel shop. Duck fan, I had seen that one on RiffRaff, but I wasn't sure if it came with a new elbow, and I needed the pump ASAP. Another question I have...the new pump came with a rubber gasket that looks like it goes all the way around the water pump. Do I need to use some RTV along with the rubber gasket? Or do I need to just use the rubber gasket that came with it? Thanks again fellas.

 

Use the rubber gasket that came with it, do NOT use RTV where the pump seals to the engine. On the other hand, you might need to use a very thin film of RTV on the thermostat housing where it seals to the pump, but sometimes not.

 

That's what I was thinking, just wanted to be sure. My gut says that if a piece of RTV broke loose, it would not be good. Thanks for the help.

 

What Sous said. No RTV....and when you put the gasket on the water pump, very carefully use a small flat head screwdriver and you can sort of push the gasket into the groove and the little wings on the gasket will fit nicely and hold in place very well. It takes some extra time, like 20 minutes, but you'll thank yourself in the end. just a little thing I learned after installing about 7 of these damn things.

 

So I installed the pump yesterday in about 4 hours with some help from my dad. The only thing that fought us a little bit was getting the fan threaded back on to the pulley. It definitely helps to have a second person for this. My dad held the fan from underneath and I held it up top, then we both slowly turned it to get it started. Other than that, it was a trouble free install.

Drove it some yesterday and today. I ended up getting a new bottom hose just to be safe. I had no leaks until today when I noticed a drip from the bottom hose. I moved the clamp a tad closer to the radiator and that stopped the leak.

Couple things I've noticed:
1. The motor seems to be a tad quieter while I'm accelerating
2. I seem to have a bit more power than when the old pump was installed (could just be my mind playing tricks).

Overall it was a pretty pain free install, thanks for all the tips and advice