While my -92 E350 van have been stored this winter it has drained itself for some water. When i take off the radiatorcap I can't se any wather. When I was under it some time ago, I could see the water dripping from the engine. It seems like it comes from under the waterpump somewhere. Is this an common problem with the 7.3 IDI ? any tips would be great!

 

Probably coming out of the weep hole under the waterpump shaft. This means you need a water pump.

I would not call it a 7.3 problem, I would call it a water pump problem. They do the same thing on gassers.

You probably will put more water pumps on the same diesel engine than you put on the same gas engine though, only because the diesel will last so much longer.

 

That's the answer I was hoping to get. But I was not shure that the pumps could leak when they was not used.Thanks!

 

the seal probably dried out from not being used.but you did say that some time ago you say a leak under the engine,leaks usally dont fix themselves

 

If a Internatonal V8 diesel water pump shows any sign of leaking or going bad replace it immediately. If the bearing begins to wobble the impeller can eat through the back of the water pump which happens to be the front of the engine. This will pump your entire cooling system into your oil pan. It is worse than water in the oil as glycol degrades the performance of oil tremendously. Even barely detectable traces of glycol will cause great increases of engine wear metals in the oil.

Birken

 

If your going to replace the pump yourself, I hade to do mine weekend before last I'v worked on gassers all my life and have done a bunch of water pumps in my time, even so it took me about six straight hours to replace. A couple of suggestions

1. It is VERY important on the bolt down on the pump that you take a piece of cardboard and make a template of the bolts going into the block from the waterpump housing, there are 4 bolts that have to go back in the same spot or they will get into the injector area and tear it up ,if they are the wrong size. Its not difficult to put them back correctly you just need to know before you take them out. They usually have a large amount of oil on the threads compared to the other bolts.

2. The fan clutch that is screwed on the front of the waterpump shaft has a large and narrow nut fitting, make sure you have a tool (Cresent wrench or chain plyers) that you can get this nut untightened with, it is very large and even if you get the whole esembly out in one piece you still are going to have to remove this to put it on the new pump.

3. THE NUT IS BACK THREADED! BESURE TO PAY ATTENTION TO THIS FACT OR YOU WILL BE TIGHTENING THE DARN THING ONTO THE PUMP HOUSING!

4.If it is difficult to remove the fan clutch from the shaft, be careful if you decide to apply heat. The clutch has rubber in the rotation area and you can ruin iit by trying to heat up the nut to looen it.

5. I recommened that if you can afford it you replace the cluch also, it can ruin the new pump if it goes bad and you already are going to have the raidiator out of the way anyway.

6.Witch bring up the last thing, if you already have the radiator out the van, flush the system and replace with new fluid and the all important SCA additives.

God Luck

 

The pump is out, but I suspect it to leak in the gasket between the block and the pump, and the bolts to the pump did not sit that hard. There had also been used som kind of siliconesealer on the gasket. The pump is no laying with the fan facing down, and I filled it up with water but I cant se any leak in the pumpseal (out of the hole in the casting). I believe it would have been leaking laying like this since it did leak mounted on the block without the engine runningif the pump was bad.... The pumpaxle seems to be nice and firm withoout slak of any kind.

I will make myself a new gasket and clean real good and try the pump one more time before i buy anotherone, or does this sound like a bad idea?

Thanks for any reply!

 

The best thing to do is warm the engine up, have the system pressure checked and be sure what is leaking before you spend money on something you may not need. It could be a cold water leak, that tightening a clamp, or removal of a hose, cleaning off the rust and reinstalling it would stop the leak. There are several opportunities for leaks other than a water pump. Have a shop with teh proper tools diagnose it, and if you feel it is in the realm of things you can do go for it. The fan hub requires special tools, and is left handed threads. A shop will stand behind their work for xx period of time, you have to stand behind what you do, and if you are unsure, can end up costing the engine which could run about $5000.00 or better. I've seen some pretty ugly attempts by DIY people that thought they could work on one of these but learned they could not. David

 

aeomholt, remember the radiator can have pressure/vacuum on the system from air temp changes. Even when the engine is not running.

Also I lost a water pump once, cost me a new radiator. That nice light fan went right on through it when the pump shaft broke at 2800 RPM. On the bright side it stopped right before it went into the AC condensor.

 

have been off line for two days, what is your situation now?

 

If you want it done right, do it yourself, unless you are incapable, then get someone capable.

I think for the cost of a water pump, just put a new one (or re-man) on, don't waste time trying to make the old one work. Even if you do succeed, you won't need to replace it again as soon if you replace it now!

 

The old pump are mounted with new gasket and all the surfaces where cleaned real good and all rust removed. (I dont mind changing it with a new one if my experiment fails c",) ) Since it have been running without AC-compressor which I now have installed, I wonder what lenght the serpentine-belt should be? What about the serpentine-belt tensioner tool, can I produce one myself if anyone have a drawing? my tensioner is the one with the shockabsorber. I look forward to start her up and se if she is leaking.

Thanks for all the helpful info and tips from you guys!

Keep up the good work!

Regards Are (yes thats my Norwegian name)