Replaced water pump
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Replaced water pump
Just finished up the task of replacing my water pump, thermostat with the 203 degree from Dieselsite, thermostat housing, and flushing out my old coolant. All went well and a lot of credit goes to FTE. This site has been helpful over and over and it’s nice to have a heads up of what to expect and what is needed beforehand. Anyways wanted to share what was going on with my truck beforehand that lead me to replacing the water pump as it was not the usual just goes out and dumps coolant from the weep hole. That's how it went out on my old 7.3 IDI truck. With it getting it colder I'm using the heater a lot more, and recently in the mornings or when the truck had been sitting a while and started cold it would blow out luke warm air once the motor got some temp for a little bit and then go to cold air for a bit. After a few minuets of blowing out cold air the temp gauge would start to climb towards the hot side and then go back down real fast to where it normally is at for operating temp and then nice hot air would come from the heater and all would be good from there on. Also noticed a squeaking noise coming from under the hood too. It was not all the time, usually came shortly after the truck had been started cold, but there were times it would do it after the truck was warmed up but not all the time. I did have a little residue of coolant on the top of the pump and noticed some coolant residue splattered around a little probably from dripping on the pulley or belt but couldn’t really tell where it was coming from. It was not a lot, but there was coolant seeping out from somewhere. At first I thought thermostat and a small leak from the housing, but then hearing the squeaking noise I figured it might be the water pump going also as that is where the squeaking noise seemed to be coming from. As I started in on getting at the old water pump out I noticed some black silt on the inside of the inlet tube on the radiator while I was taking off the hose which concerned me a little. I could tell it was not motor oil and the old coolant was still green and pretty clean when I drained it. Once I got the fan and serpentine belt off I spun the pulley on the water pump and it was a rough feeling. Once I got the water pump off and inspected it I noticed that the impeller was rubbing and eating into the body of the water pump. This would explain why there was a residue of black silt on the inlet tube which was very fine metal shavings from the impeller rubbing on the body of the water pump. I flushed the radiator and block out real good and pulled the plugs on the block too to make sure to flush out any metal residue from the old pump before I put the new one on. Got the new pump, thermostat, and housing on with no issues topped with fresh coolant and all is doing great so far. No leaks, no more heater issues, no more squeaking, and truck runs at a better operating temp now with the new Dieselsite thermostat. Has anyone ever experienced a water pump where the impeller starts to rub on the housing? Is that from the bearings going out or what would cause that for curiosity sakes? Sure glad I replaced the water pump when I did. Could have turned into a much bigger problem.
