Bad water pump - would you drive it 25 miles more? (1 Viewer)

[smalltown]

Hi All,
so the fun begins a bit. Got in the 60 (1984 FJ60, 2F, H55 conversion) yesterday morning, started up, and drove away. I heard a squeal. Short drive and returned to park. Came out a couple hours later and found a very small amount of coolant on the pavement. Checked and it's coming from the water pump.

I have read all the various threads on here about replacing the water pump. My issue is that my nearest driveway in which to work is about 25 miles from where I live. Would you drive it this distance? Or could it all go pear-shaped on the way?

On the positive side...put in new Cibie headlights:

 

[Toyoland66]

If you do keep a close eye on the temps, I had one sieze up while driving and just barely missed overheating. As long as its still spinning your probably ok.

 

[Godwin]

I would not. I tried this once and a simple $100 waterpump repair resulted in a $1000 waterpump, radiator, fan repair. I knew the pump needed replacing but I thought I had some time. Pump shaft broke and the fan ripped into the radiator.

 

[OSS]

Coolant gets lost from the cooling system when there's a small leak somewhere because the cooling system gets pressurized as it heats up- the coolant expands.

If the cooling system isn't pressurized, small leaks won't leak. And yes it's perfectly safe to drive the cruiser 25 miles without a pressurized system - I driove mine like that for 5 years.

The best way to do it without making a mess is to modify the radiator cap so that it will free flow both ways- getting rid if the spring check valve.

When you buy your new pump, buy another new radiator cap too- and use it

 

[lcolon]

If it is just coming out of the weep hole, then you should be OK to drive it. Just make sure it is topped up and keep an eye of the temps. Do not let it overheat or it will turn into $$$.

Given that there no alarms in the cruiser, I drive mine like an airline pilot, skimming all of the gauges every 30sec - 1min. After I lost a coolant line on the highway and only realized it when it starting pinging (new head later), that is now my MO. Becomes automatic after a while.

 

[bentonrover]

Total crap shoot. I drove about 6 months with a every so often squeal. Could not pin point it. Fan turned good was not losing coolant. Then bam. Driving home and it seized up. Only other casualties was the belts. Take it for what it is.

 

[HemiAlex]

Tow it.

 

[b56tc]

^^^^^

best investment you can make in peace of mind and the cost of the bad luck alternative

 

[smalltown]

So I just went outside to check things out. I opened the radiator cap...or at least part-way opened the radiator cap. And coolant came out of top of the radiator. I have not driven at all today. Everything is cold. I would not expect coolant out of the radiator when cold for over 24 hours.

Pressure in the system then? But bad pressure? That is not normal is it?

st

 

[87CRUSR]

AAA precisely for these circumstances.

 

[ToyotaMatt]

Hi All,
so the fun begins a bit. Got in the 60 (1984 FJ60, 2F, H55 conversion) yesterday morning, started up, and drove away. I heard a squeal. Short drive and returned to park. Came out a couple hours later and found a very small amount of coolant on the pavement. Checked and it's coming from the water pump.

I have read all the various threads on here about replacing the water pump. My issue is that my nearest driveway in which to work is about 25 miles from where I live. Would you drive it this distance? Or could it all go pear-shaped on the way?

On the positive side...put in new Cibie headlights:

View attachment 2379211

that's a nice looking 1984 FJ60JG-KA

don't risk it all by taking a chance on a 30+ year old vintage Toyota ....


be safe not sorry .

my opinion

 

[Devils Paw 80]

So I just went outside to check things out. I opened the radiator cap...or at least part-way opened the radiator cap. And coolant came out of top of the radiator. I have not driven at all today. Everything is cold. I would not expect coolant out of the radiator when cold for over 24 hours.

Pressure in the system then? But bad pressure? That is not normal is it?

st

If it's just a little bit of fluid then not abnormal. Would I drive it? Probably.

 

[cruiserorbust]

I have replaced five waterpumps over the years on my 88 lancruiser and The two I got from toyota didnt have weep hole. the three cheaper aftermarket pumps had weep holes. They all seemed to fail after the same period f time, not mileage , time. The last pump sat in my parked cruiser for three years and went bad two days after I recommissioned the truck. It had the fewest miles by far. Im not sure what conclusions to actually draw from this , just thought this is interesting

 

[OSS]

If coolant is still pressurized when removing the radiator cap the next morning when engine is stone cold, replace the cap.
The coolant level in the overflow tank should rise when it's hot and drop when the engine cools all he way down.
While the engine is cooling down, the radiator cap should allow the radiator to suck coolant back out of the overflow tank. If anything, a cold engine should have a slight negative pressure in the cooling system- not pressure.

 

[smalltown]

Hi All...out of curiosity...could this be something as simple as a failing thermostat that causes this?

Though I am about to replace the water pump (I haven't driven it yet), I was checking the belt tension (seems OK), and feeling around the pump and thermostat. I notice that wet coolant is found on the bottom of the thermostat housing and it looks like maybe it has even leaked (and evaporated) out of the thermostat housing. Perhaps the squeal I heard was actually the belts slipping on small amount of coolant leaking from thermostat housing?

Last I drove, when we were climbing a dirt road (nothing serious, a smooth dirt road) in 2nd, the engine started to get quite hot (not in the red). I put it in 4 H, which made climbing with lower RPMs easier and engine went back to normal. Temp is / has been normal on the highway and around town.

I guess I should start it up and see? Might also need a new radiator cap...

st

 

[Spike Strip]

Squealing is not the thermostat, though I would certainly replace the T'stat at the same time as pump, and Fan Clutch too if it's original, and have the radiator cleaned if it's old. But I'm the 'do it once, do it right' type.

Would I drive it 25 miles like this? Only in an emergency. It ain't worth the potential head work (or worse), if it overheats.

Good luck.

 

[smalltown]

Dear All

just to resolve this for the moment. So after I got into the front of the engine (the fan shroud had already been divided by PO), I was able to see that indeed the coolant had not been coming from the water pump but rather from the thermostat housing. The PO had replaced the water pump - and most everything I think - when the engine was rebuilt a few years ago. For now, I tightened the bolts to spec on the thermostat housing and replaced the radiator cap. I will continue to watch for leaks, squeals, and engine running hot and hope not to have any more issues for a bit.

Thanks for all the information and advice. It will surely come in handy when it does come time to replace the pump.

st