Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Water pump bad???

Hello...

I was driving home from work today and noticed the check engine light on. My light comes on and off often so I usually ignore it. However, today I looked at the water temperature gauge and it was in the high red range. I pulled the car over and let it cool down. It had some spill over on the radiator overflow cap. Okay, I know this has been raised many of times... but what's the first thing I should check? Is it this damn water pump I keep hearing about? It is freaking seventy dollars for a new one. So I should just swap the impeller? What about thermostat? I have a 1995 duratech SE. Need advice, please help. This is a different post from the other guy who thinks he has water pump problems....

How hard is this going to be for me to replace this? And where the hell is this water pump located? Is it easy to fix?

And oh... let's say i have been driving it like this for let's say a month now... what kind of problems besides seizing the engine my i cause? Warped heads? What.. blown gaskets?

Thanks

Paul

and oh...one more thing...do i need to drain the coolant?

Paul

you'll have to, at least partially it's best to flush the system anyway.

w/p replacement: http://www.contour.org/FAQ/showfaq.pl?howto/waterpump

w/p location: http://www.contour.org/pics/duratec/durleft-tn.jpg
see a black pulley on the left? that's your w/p

coolant flush: http://contour.org/forums/Forum3/HTML/000235.html
part of the coolant will go out naturally as you remove the w/p, but the instructions will apply anyway.

CE: hope it's not related to w/p

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96 GL V6 ATX
mild enhancements

[This message has been edited by alex_96GL (edited July 18, 2000).]

The waterpump is located on the RIGHT side of the motor (looking at it from the front) on a Duratech motor . It's under the black plastic cover on the front of the motor . You CANNOT see it without removing the cover . The plugs are under there too (well at least the front 3) .
If your waterpump died a month ago & it's been overheating this long , you wouldn't have a motor left . I doubt it's been bad a month ... when they go , they go .

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"If you want to finish first ... first you must finish !!!"

My 95 V6 had the same problem last weekend. A bonehead at the closest garage swapped the thermostat and resevoir before admitting it was a WP that he couldn't fix. I towed it to
Ford who fixed it for about $475. If you've
got some time (which I so didn't have),
tools, and a fair amount of mechanical
skills this job is very do-able at home
and much cheaper. The forum has some great
info. Read up and the job should be easier.
Don't drive an aluminum engine overheated or
head gaskets could be the least of your problems.

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95SE-2.5L
Stock

I utilized the water pump replacement instructions referred to by alex_96GL and generally found them to be complete and accurate. It really does pay to remove the battery, take apart the thermostat housing, and remove the connector on the ATX. It allowed me to get my fairly large hands into the tight space to turn the ratchet to remove the eight bolts that hold the pump on. I used a 1/4 ratchet to drive the 8 mm socket. I don't think a 3/8 ratchet would have fit.

By the way, removing the battery will clear the car's computer memory and cause the check engine light to go off. At least it worked for me.

I spent probably a total of three hours by the time I completely finished, including draining and refilling the engine coolant. I was amazed how cheesy the radiator drain plug is (plastic and difficult to get to).

The old pump didn't appear to be damaged at first but when I grabbed the impeller it would spin freely around the shaft.

Anyway, $48 and 3 hours later my sister-in-law's 96 is fixed.

naturally



you are twice lucky:
- once for not having the impeller disintegrated into tiny pieces and not having to flush the system for hours to get them out
- second time for not having to do it in Feb., and in MI

Anyway, glad it worked for you. Keep an eye on the coolant level. some of the hoses may leak after your system was pressurized above the limit. Don't ask how I know

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96 GL V6 ATX
mild enhancements


[This message has been edited by alex_96GL (edited July 20, 2000).]

Hello..

Thanks for all the help. It was definitely the water pump. The impeller was in pieces. I must admit I was a little perplexed at first because the heater was still blowing hot. When I took the water pump off, the whole impeller was not shattered so it was still pushing water. Only a fraction of it was missing.

Anyways, it swapped out pretty easy. I even replaced the thermostat since I was there and that was easy too. Water pump costed 70 dollars and the thermostat was 5.

It's running cool now. The check engine light hasn't been on. I still have to flush the radiator. I just filled it all up with water for now. Later I will drain it and add the anti freeze.

Paul

Well, I had the EXACT same symptoms as you my friend:

- overheating, coolant spillage....yeah.

I want to thank everyone who responded to this post, and although I did not have access to tools and time to replace the water pump, I did manage to diagnose this problem myself, avoiding unnecessary labour and hassles with this mechanic here. I am actually using his computer to respond to this post. I read through the forums and especially this post to figure out that it was the water pump and not the heater core or even the temp gauge.

We opened up the casing that covers the water pump, removed the pump using the directions on-line and viola.....cracked impeller. STUPID!!! Plastic!!!! I couldn't believe it.

I opted to get the Tredex water pump as opposed to the OEM one 'cause I knew the Tredex has a steel impeller and not the plastic one.

All in all, I paid a lot here. But I've gained piece of mind and realization that this web site is THE source for Tour/Tique needs.

Thanks to all.

Martin