Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting water pump truth?

I have a '99 CSVT with 47k miles. Having seen so many reports about waterpump failure and engine damage, I am planning pre-emptive replacement, but am curious as to exactly the problem. Have heard impeller failure, have also heard loose backing cone causes the problem. If it's the cone, what has to be done to fix? Does impeller material (metal or plastic) really matter. Please clear up the vagueness of the problem

the impeller is made out of plastic. it heats up and cools down a few hundred times, becomes brittle, and breaks.

when you replace it you want to find the one with the metal impeller. (i think napa.)

There seem to be several theories regarding failure modes.

The initial theory is that the plastic becomes brittle and cracks, and you find bits of the impeller in the coolant. In some cases, the impeller breaks into several pieces, others it simply stops rotating with the shaft. There is some evidence to support this theory

Another theory, is the cone in the pump housing becomes loose, and begins to wear away the plastic impeller. Indeed, pictures of such impellers have appeared on this site.

Bottom line, is you probably want to perform some prevenative maintenance. When you drain your coolant, take the time to remove the eight bolts that hold the impeller port of the pump to the body and look around. If the cone is loose, then you need a Ford pump. IIRC, Ford sells the entire pump, most other places simply sell the impeller portion. Otherwise my advice is to replace the plastic impeller with one of the metal ones.

Or contact Terry Haynes and look into an electric, thermostatically controlled water pump. That mod should return a few horsepower since the pump will not need to run constantly.

HTH

TB

At 65,000 miles, I replaced my water pump as a maintenance item.
The pump was working fine, but I like the way my Duratec is running,
and I don't want to risk damaging it for being stupid.

So when I replaced the pump, I found that I have one of the second generation pumps,
(White/Beige impeller), but it was in the early stages of failure.
One of the plastic impellers was cracked, and was about to let go.
It was a good thing I replaced it when I did.
Many good Autoparts shops can get you the METAL IMPELLER pump.
I bought mine from AutoZone.
It came with a lifetime warranty,
for as long as you own the vehicle.
I also replaced the belt with it.

Don't risk it.
Change it and be sure...