water pump bearing howling intermittently

[mickey_rubicon]

well almost exactly at 220k the water pump bearing started howling intermittently. Right now about once or twice a day, for a few seconds. Besides the waterpump and the gasket, is there anything else that should be replaced/ordered? Can the pump be rebuilt? How much time do I have at this point to replace it? (0, a week, a month?) Has anyone else had bearing failure on the pump? It seems and sounds straight forward, but just curious on this one. The pump is not leaking. This seems to be a bearing issue. I think it got cooked when my PHH went out last summer and the temp rose quite a bit.

Cheers!

 

[cruiserman]

Easily replacement. Do a HG while you're in there.

 

[John E Davies]

I have a new pump sitting on the shelf, waiting to go on my LX.

I suggest that you replace any belts that have more than 50K miles, and both the idler pulleys if they haven't ever been changed. They are very reasonable.

Replace the thermostat and cover oring, and any hoses with more than 100K miles.

If your front crank seal is damp, do that at the same time, definitely, and check the oil pump cover for leakage. It has been known to fail also.

Oh yeah, flush the heck out of the system before pulling the pump, and if the rad is looking clogged, pull it and get it cleaned out professionally.

Better to do them all at once on a sunny weekend, then several different times in crappy weather.

John Davies
Spokane WA

 

[IdahoDoug]

I'd confirm it is not an accessory item using the wood dowel trick before commiting to the water pump. Can't recall anyone recently having one.

DougM

 

[landtank]

I had bearing noise form the accessory idler, the one with 2 belts going over it.

 

[tech_dog]

Waiting to fix a cooling problem can be incredibly expensive. Get cracking....

 

[sdbrassfield]

Water pump bearings are usually leaking before they get bad enough to start making that much noise. If you are sure it is that I would replace the water pump asap, but I would confirm/look further. I have heard of PS pumps, idler/belt pulleys making alotta noise intermittently like that.....

 

[mickey_rubicon]

"Better to do them all at once on a sunny weekend, then several different times in crappy weather." - do they have this saying as a bumper sticker? story of my life, just did the belts a month ago, the radiator the month before, - I am a slow learner but busy on the weekends : )

 

[LX_TREME]

Well i got new one here planning to install it this summer with other bunch crap radiator, hoses....etc, Oh and lemme post pic new water pump

 

[mickey_rubicon]

Looks like a party just waiting to happen - just add coolant!

 

[IdahoDoug]

So Mickey - you're not responding to the "be sure it's not something else" comments. Does this mean you're 100% sure it's the water pump??

These are mucho durable water pumps. My bro in law's '93 has 300k and going strong.

DougM