I thought that you guys would appreciate some pics.

First of all I would like to thank you guys for telling me to check my water pump it was in sad shape with a mere 60k on the van the pump has given up the ghost. I'm sure that the bad coolant is to blame for shortening it's life.

There was no play in the bearing and the shaft seal wasn't leaking. But the impeller well....

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...WPImpeller.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...pellerSide.jpg

When compared to the new pump is just night and day. The replacement is a brand new pump from Gates. The thickness of the bad impeller looks to me like the thickness of an aluminum soda can.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...WPImpeller.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...pellerSide.jpg

Also I found a good technique to make sure that all of those different length bolts and studs get back into their proper places.

Another helpful thing to use is Permatex Gasket Remover Spray. It helped me immensely on removing that old stuck on water pump gasket. Since it seems that they used a gasket adhesive to secure it to the block during installation.

RTV works just as well and will allow easy peel off removal of the gasket in the future.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...tOrganizer.jpg

I actually stole this from one of my Haynes manuals I used to use before I got my Ford SM.

It was used to keep track of lifters but works great here too! Just trace out your new WP then I put dashes where the bolts were and punched holes in the box.

As the bolts came out they went in the holes on the box.

I then took the box inside and polished the threads with a wire wheel on my grinder. I wrote down on the box next to the bolt holes which ones had thread sealant on them so I could reapply it when the bolts were reinstalled later.

Oddly enough despite this horribly eaten impeller the Aero kept chugging along and didn't overheat since the flush. I'm suprised that this impeller could move any coolant at all. What are we talking maybe 10% efficiency at best?

I think in that shape it can no longer be called a water pump I'm thinking more along the lines of idler pulley .

There is an upside though I can pull the impeller off and give it to one of my ninja buddies since it's more useful as a throwing star than an impeller .

Feel free to show these pics to naysayers who say that regular coolant flushes aren't that important.

Oh yeah and I noticed this plug on both the water pumps right under the shaft.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...NewWPFront.jpg

Does this plug serve the come purpose as the block plugs and it's where the casting sand was poured out?

 

krank
great follow up post and pictures

never seen a WP impeller ate up from corrosion so heavily before. must have been some heavy galvanic action occurring in system.

what is the coolant system history?

monitor the head gaskets closely for corrosion induced eat thru/blow out. i would do compression/leakdown tests yearly or strictly monitor coolant drop.
i add a can of this every off year between coolant flush/changes. keeps the corrosion orks away

Prestone
Super Radiator Anti-Rust contains an inhibitor package that coats and helps protect key cooling system metals from corrosion. This product can be added to antifreeze/coolants between changes to boost the depleted corrosion protection of these fluids. When used according to package directions, this specially formulated product will not cause over-addition problems such as reduced heat transfer or inhibitor precipitation that can be detrimental to the antifreeze in the system.

switched to this one because it is HOAT compatible

 

The coolant system has a short and sad history. Prior to 2004 it was still running on the factory coolant to my knowledge .

When I flushed it in 04 I was still very new to auto maintenance. I flushed it properly with a flushing T with the engine running until the water out of the rad filler neck ran clear. The same for the heater core.

I should have used flushing solution and let it circulate but I didn't.

Now for the real stupid part I used tap water with the antifreeze .

I don't know what degraded the system more and ate away at that impeller the old coolant or the new coolant mixed with tap water.

But I know one thing I don't want either anymore.

Until the vehicle started acting up I didn't remember my error.

Only distilled water and antifreeze or pre-diluted 50/50 for me now.

I will definately add the rust inhibitor when I hit the 1 year mark.

I must say now that I've flushed this thing 3 times (2 courses of flushing solution) and (1 course of distilled water to prep for adding the antifreeze). Changing out the coolant once every 2 years would be easier .

 

Yes, a piece of cardboard works prety good.
But what I did was take a 2' by 2' square piece of Pegboard, Screwed it to a couple of pieces of plywood cut to 45 angle so it sits up but leans too.
Then I put the bolts in any shape I have too. If the holes a little small I just
drill them out a little bigger.

 

Good follow up Krank. More members need to do this so we all learn from each other. I'm still on the original pump (knock on wood).
Do you have good grounds on your engine?

 

Hey Krank,
Let me tell you a cut little story about a waterpump.....I might have posted this before, but forgive me, at my age memory is the second thing to go.....I can't remember what was the first....

When I bought my 90 EB Extended (new) I was using it about 50/50 for my business and personal use. Because of that I had it serviced at the dealer. After about 3 years the water pump went. Had the car towed to the dealer to be repaired. Got it back....no problems...everything aok. A couple of months later, I decided to retire, and now I was doing my own maintenance due to the finances. Well, the 'Star started running hot. I checked everything from thermostat to temp sensor. I had the cooling system flushed. I did everything except check the water pump (after all, I just had it replaced a couple of months ago). Well, finally, as a last resort, I pulled the pump and found the culprit. The impeller had absolute no vanes left on it. I looked like a saw blade. I got my invoice and checked the work. "New" water pump, coolant, etc. were installed. When I looked at the pump again, there was a green sticker on the bottom, "Remanufactured by Ford". I headed to the dealer, and confronted the service manager. You will never believe what he told me. "Obviously, your engine has a leaking head gasket. The gases mixing with the coolant form a very caustic mixture, and that is what corroded the vanes on the pump". I beat on these guys for a couple of weeks, and the only satisfaction I was able to get was the difference between a new and remanufactured pump. I replaced that pump with a new pump from O'Reilly and that part was still functional when the car was wrecked in 2004. So much for the caustic mixture...........unless the head gasket leak fixed itself by divine intervention...........

 

I thought something like that was caused by cavitation?I had seen this before with outboard motors on boat and the leading edges of the prop were all worn away.that should have some kind of zink penciles or something in the cooling system?

 

seems to me it is just a corrosion.... I saw early russian V8 engines built in 50-s with made of wierd brown plastic impellers.

There were pump rebuild kits available (shaft+seals+bearings) and sometimes I see made in 50-s pumps with stock impellers.

I rebuilt my engine and saw my impeller. It is ok, but I see how corrosion changed it.

Yeah, we all have closed type cooling systems, but sometimes we use to open cap, add some water (sometimes it is not distiled ore dimineralised) and there are oxygen and some aggersive salts in coolant slawly killing iron and aluminium. BTW, soda may be a component of cast iron (not sure about iron used for ford engines in the USA and EU)

 

Looks to me like chemical attack! one good reason to make sure the AFC is aluminum compatible (I assume that impeller is aluminium). Makes me wonder what shape mine is in, although I don't have any overheating or running hot problem yet. $16 on a jug of Prestone every 2 years has got to be an investment in the life of the engine! I'm glad I've got rid of the 5 years long life coolant, it did not even last 2 years & allowed rust to develop rather more quickly than it should have. Certainly would not use that stuff again.

Aeroman.

 

The impeller on mine was stamped out of a piece of steel (or heavy sheetmetal), whatever the difference is.

 

Nice story cookkd I always like to hear more "tales from the dealer ".

I mean't to ask you guys something.

When I flushed the block with my garden hose (man was there alot of brown coolant coming out into my bucket). No chunks of sludge though so I guess that's a good thing.

A bit of sludge came out during the 1st chemical flush but not enough to worry about the 2nd flush was pretty uneventful just brown coolant and nothing else.

There was still some tap water left in the block that didn't flush out after the garden hose.

Should I have poured distilled water into the engine until the tap water ran out?

I tried to remove the block plug but it stripped out and I wasn't in the mood for drilling it or knocking out a freeze plug.

I pulled out a sample with a tester after the coolant circulated to make sure that I had adequate freeze protection.

Also I forgot to mention this tidbit about flushing my heater core the valve was in the closed position when the engine was off and the function switch was in the off position. It seems like it closes when your selector switch is either in the off position or you are running A/C.

I thought that it flushed clear too easily so I did a test. The valve arm was pushed inward.

I pulled it's vacuum hose and the arm retracted outward I continued to flush the core and rusty water came out. So it's arm out core open arm in core closed.

Luckily I caught that or I would have still had crap in the core. This was the one time I was happy that I didn't have another core to flush .

 

krank

not to worry. you did a great job.
i would change the coolant and do the cleaner/flush treatment every fall for the next 2 years just to make sure you have the bad nasties stopped inside your engine and radiator.

don't want them eating up something else.

 

what an acid was in coolant?

One our driver put some acid for battaries in coolant (thought it was distiled water).... Had to change heater core and flush system.

 

Good idea I will space out two more flushes as suggested I could use a break.

I replaced the rad and cap (Motorcraft 16 lb cap), upper and lower hoses, and the thermostat too since the old rad looked pretty ghastly. Plus it's alot easier to scrape off that old WP gasket with the stupid rad out of the way .

Thanks for all the help again.