Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Waterpump impeller bits - where do they go?

Hey Horseydug,

All that talk about pro-active replacement and you ran her till she blew!

Just curious - did the metal ring on the half of the pump attached to the motor remain intact on your pump? Someone had said a few months back that they felt the failure mode was the ring separating and then causing the impeller to break. The dealer gave me my old pump back when it failed a few years ago and it looked like a plain old fatigue crack.

Just curious and good luck!

Jab

Jabberjack
Well to me water pump failure and belt failure can have same effect; overheating engine that should not be driven. Or at least only in short bursts after cool down. An idiot light, in addition to guage is definitely the better way to go. I have a '90 Buick Century that has both.

Re the cone: intact and in place. A few scuff marks, no dents. I would bet impeller shattering damages cone in most cases.

Regards.

p.s. I still have the '98 with 60,000 miles as a possible candidate for pre-emptive metal pump, but at the moment I don't want to see another wp for a while.