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urgent help - water pump belt

Z

Zetetic

New CEG'er
Joined
Sep 26, 2004
Messages
22
I just finished replacing my water pump. Things went pretty smoothly, but I just turned the car on as a test and the belt started smoking. At first it was a small amount of smoke but it didn't stop increasing in volume. So I shut it off.

The belt snapped a few seconds later. This is the belt recommended by BAT and I bought it along with my metal impeller water pump. The new belt did seem significantly tighter - so tight it was really hard to put on, whereas the old motorcraft belt was extremely easy to take off.

Should I install the old belt, or does this seem like it's a symptom of a larger problem? I know no one can give me the absolutely correct answer so opinions are very welcome :help:
 
One other quick question, I didn't see mention of the metal cone in either the main faq or the pictorial version by 69Boss302 (which was really helpful btw.) The cone sits on top of even the plastic impeller version. Looks like it's supposed to help channel the liquid? I installed it back on just like it was, hope that wasn't a mistake.
 
with the belt removed, physically check for binding of the belt tensioner or waterpump pulley. If you have a bind on either, the associated pulley won't spin and will heat the belt up, snapping it.
 
Help from the CEG god himself! You were spot on, the water pump was not turning freely at all. I feel really dumb for not checking that... it would be really useful to add that to the faq on it, imho.

thank you for responding, much appreciated!
 
Also, DO NOT leave that metal cone loose in the housing, that could possibly be the reason the impeller bound up, and even if it's not, it can start to spin and cut through the housing. It is supposed to be tight, although most people who take their water pumps apart find that it's loose. If you have a spring loaded centerpunch you can use that to peen the cone back in place, that's what I did and it worked beautifully.

*edit* see the sticky in Duratec Maintenance: http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=4422

*edit #2* also, DO NOT reuse the water pump bolts, they are TTY (torque to yield) and will snap upon reinstallation, as I found out afterwards
 
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Yup that's exactly it. Was about to post my own picture of it, heh. I'm going to buy a punch and peen it in there. Worst that can happen is I have to buy a new housing, which I'd have to do anyway, right? Thanks again.
 
rollinstylee said:
Also, DO NOT leave that metal cone loose in the housing, that could possibly be the reason the impeller bound up, and even if it's not, it can start to spin and cut through the housing. It is supposed to be tight, although most people who take their water pumps apart find that it's loose. If you have a spring loaded centerpunch you can use that to peen the cone back in place, that's what I did and it worked beautifully.

*edit* see the sticky in Duratec Maintenance: http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=4422

*edit #2* also, DO NOT reuse the water pump bolts, they are TTY (torque to yield) and will snap upon reinstallation, as I found out afterwards
Click to expand...

I've reused the bolt, had no problem at all and it's been like that for at least 2.5 years. I've also used RTV instead of a gasket so as long as the bolts are tight enough it was going to seal up nicely.

Bolts of 6mm or less are very easy to snap so using some common snese and feel is much more important tha a torque wrench.
 
That is all well and good, and I agree that you might get away with reusing them if you don't over-torque them. Nevertheless, the fact remains that they ARE torque-to-yield by design, and why risk the life of your engine on $2 worth of bolts from the hardware store? I didn't over-torque them, I was using a 1/4" drive torque wrench (low torque) set to the low end of spec for the WP, and I had anti-seize on the bolts and two of them still snapped and I had to remove the entire housing to extract them. It's not worth the trouble.
 
Well damn, nowhere local had a punch. Everyone I checked with was sold out or had a different kind.

I started looking for water pump housings, and checked all over town again. Besides which, there are those non-screw fittings on the pipes connecting to the pump housing, and I have no clue how to remove those without damaging them, nevermind fit them back on properly. Maybe it's really easy, but at this point I'm beginning to think I'm in over my head. If someone could tell me how to loosen those and retighten them properly I'll probably still try it. On the other hand maybe just ordering the housing and having the pros do it is better.

My question is: how much does that flow control plate matter? (the same plate found in this thread: http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=4422&page=2 )

Can I drive around town without it? For a day, a week? Or just to the mechanic? Not at all?
 
What pipes are you talking about? Do you mean the rubber hoses? If so, they can be a pain to get off, but keep at it with several flat head screwdrivers simultaneously prying and working the housing out of the hoses, they'll come off eventually. When putting them back on, just rub a very little bit of lithium grease on the inside of the hose and outside of the nipple and they'll slide on effortlessly. As for the effects of the restrictor plate, I'm not sure what would happen if you drove without it. I'd imagine at worst you'd lose some cooling efficiency due to turbulence in the pump (pure speculation) but I still wouldn't do it, I figure it's designed that way for a reason.
 
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