Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 4 Water Pumps in 8 months

OK I have now gone through 4 water pumps in 8 months. The problem is not with the impellar, it is with shaft seal. My pump keeps leaking through the weep hole. I almost overheated again on my way home. As of now it is a slow leak and I can cool the motor by putting the defrost on, but I do not know why the pumps keep going out. The tensioner seems fine, I can move it by hand. I am getting so tired of replacing pumps even though I am getting faster. Any Ideas. I have a 96 v6 AT with 107k it leaks oil like crazy, but I can not afford another car. Any help is appreciated

Ok, first of all where did u buy your last "4" water pumps from?? When was the last time you replaced them? The reason why I asked is because you could have a lifetime warranty on it which I hope you do. Find your receipts and see if it does. If you're i'm sorry to say this but you're sol so you'll be spending another $40-$60 on another pump.

I got the pumps at Autozone, and they do have the free replacement, but I do not like to drive to far from home, and will not let my wife drive my car because I am afraid it will strand her. The last time I replaced the pump was in July, and the time before that was in March.

When did you last flush the cooling system (including the block)? When did you last change the antifreeze? And are you using the correct type of antifreeze?

I have not changed the Antifreeze in a long while, but I know I am using the correct type.

Wow, same exact thing happened to me!!! It's not your pumps its your pump housing... it is warped.. I had this problem on my pre-98 and i kept replacing the pumps, then one day i just took the whole housing off for the hell of it and laid it flat and inspected it. Guess what? yup warped housing, after your silicone dries it will be fine for a month or so then it gets really hot again and starts to leak. At least this is the hypothesis i came up with. You can get the entire pump housing, wp and gasket from ford for 100 IIRC. Had it on my SE for 8 months now. Leakless, also flush your cooling system.

I should title mine "4 Water Pumps in 12-months".

I have a 1998 SE Sport with a V6 and 5-speed. I bought it new in October 1998 and it now has 90,000+ miles. It was my wife's car until I got tired of replacing water pumps every 3-4 months and I couldn't trust the car to be reliable for her anymore. I just bought her a 2004 Volkwagen GLI and now I use the SE to get to and from work (saves the miles on my SVT).

We have had the water pumps replaced at a Ford dealer each time, three times by our local dealer and once at a dealer out of town (we were on vacation). All four pumps began leaking around the bearings, beginning as a small leak at first, then fluid just poured out. We paid for the first pump, Ford has paid for the last three. Now the pump in the car is going again - it's been about 4-months. This time Ford says that I have to pay for the new pump as it has been more than one year since they replaced the first one - "the warranty is only for one year from the first covered repair"! Even if they haven't gotten it right yet! I don't think it is the housing as Ford replaces the entire water pump and belt each time. The Ford Regional Service Represenative told me that the dealer is overtightening the belt because "he can't believe that we could have gotten four faulty water pumps".

I haven't solved the problem so I could use some help as well.

I had a similar problem. To solve mine I throughly flushed the system. Seems there is some problems with upper hose deteriorating and causing this. Backflush throrougly and you should have no more problems.

Bob

Yesterday I had my water pump replaced by an independent shop using a BAT water pump that I provided. They checked everything very, very carefully. They checked to see if the housing was warped - it wasn't. They checked the hoses for deterioration - they found none. They tested the fluid for contaminants - again none. The cam drive pully and the water pump pully were properly aligned. Everything appeared to be good - right up until they started the engine with the new pump installed. The mechanic said that the problem was as clear as could be, the belt tensioner was out of alignment! Although I will never be able to prove it, it looks like the Ford technician bent the tensioner when he replaced the first water pump (with 78,000+ miles on it). Since then the car has gone through three pumps in just 12,500 miles (or 14 months). I guess it would take too much time for the Ford technician to actually do a visual inspection of the engine after he installed the new part! In the case of my car the technicians couldn't be bothered to do a visual inspection four times!!

And yes the independent shop flushed the cooling system, added new coolant and then bleed and pressure tested the system. They also replaced the thermostat and thermostat gasket and steam cleaned the engine. Oh and of course they replaced the water pump belt and the bent belt tensioner! I have confidence that this water pump will last.

Makes me wonder why I have been using Ford (no) service for all these years.