Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 2 Waterpumps in 10 days

I took my 'tour in to have a WP changed (origional WP, 152k). The first replacement pump started leaking in 6 days. The shop replaced that, and the 2nd replacement pump started leaking in 4 days. Each time it is leaking out the weep hole.

They have to be installing it incorrectly. I am figuring too much tension on the belt is wearing out the bearing seal, but I'm just guessing here.

Anyone have any more specific info or better guesses? I want to figure this out and 'coach' them so they can get it right this time.

Lemme guess, you got a metal impeller water pump.

Seems the metal impeller pumps are prone to seal failure - I don't know why.

The only pumps that seem to have few problems are the white plastic impeller pumps. Try on of those. I'm approaching 70k miles on mine - no problems. I've seen posts from several guys that have more than 100k on their original white impeller pumps without problems. I've seen very few posts about white impeller pump failures.

I'm guessing FORD installs the white impeller pumps? Last year they put five different pumps on my 2.5L Mystigue and didn't get it right until the fifth one. Their comment was, their mechanic was installing them wrong. That's all I could get out of them but made sure a different guy was doing the fifth pump insallation. He seemed to get it right.

All of my pumps leaked at the same place as yours. The third one started pouring out on the drive up bay floor - at the dealership - when I went to pick the car up after the repair. Needless to say, the Service Manager saw to it that I was taken care of at that point. But the idiot still installed the fourth one wrong.

They also had to replace the therm, some hoses, and the overflow res cap because the car continued to run hot in slow traffic. It is slightly better now but not the way it used to be before the original pump died.

It seems after the original pumps dies, it's a pain in the A$$ to get it staightned out. So, I'm holding my breath now that warmer weather is here... counting the days before I smell or see antifreeze.

Good luck.

Thanks for the info you have. I am still puzzled as to what is exactly going on here? I have a hard time believing that 2 pumps went out in 10 days. That would be high statistical odds.

It has to be something their doing, but what? I can only surmise that their somehow putting too much pressure on the pulley, and that is causing the seal to leak. Even this theory doesn't make too much sense, cause the belt tensioner actually applies the tension on the serpentine belt.

My first pump was from NAPA and I am not sure where they got the 2nd one. People keep taking about white plastic -vs- metal impeller, but that talk is meaningless to me with out the manufacturer name on the pump. Also, The actual shop is an independent shop unrelated to a dealership.