Catastophic Water Pump Failure
 

Hi All,

Driving home this arvo and the water pump let go and put everything into the radiator.:-X18
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

Ouch !!:-hair
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.

Hi Patchy

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.

Thanks for the offers:),

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

Hi Patch, tough luck. I think I'll be changing the water pump at the first sounds of a slipping belt!
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.

Here's some photos

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...o/100_2208.jpg
The fan did not fare well


http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...o/100_2205.jpg
We came to the conclusion the bearing collapsed

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...o/100_2207.jpg
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

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...o/100_2209.jpg
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

Patch, I also would like to see the after shots once it is all back together again :) !

The only thing I'm pissed off about this is I have owned F trucks since 1982
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:-wink
Keep an eye out for irregular noise
As I said it was not a consistent noise:'(
The photos are coming SSSimon

Cheers,
Patchy

O Kay,
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

I personally don't see the need for a larger volume pan unless your truck spends most of its life towing heavy.

Filter & gasket for $71 is a good deal. I paid over double that for those items at a Ford stealership - incidently, the only 2 F250 parts I've ever bought from an Aussie stealership.

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').