Final thoughts RE: My water pump failed again...

["miltdanfoss" <dan.foss@xxxx>]

In response to an earlier request to post a final email on these 
email topics, here is my (hopefully) final post on my water pump 
troubles.

New pump from Special-T-Auto worked great, and my D is back in 
service. I will note that the pump from Special-T-Auto, rotated by 
hand much more smoothly than did the pump from Volvo. It is also 
threaded at the end, and the shaft protrudes more, but these are of 
no concern to me. 

Make sure if you do move your own pulley from stock pump to a Volvo 
type replacement, that you look on Special-T-Auto's site for the 
pulley reference picture. You can press the pulley on using a press 
or vice and a socket on the shaft at the impeller side to save the 
impeller. 

Also, I was able to R&R pump without removing the intake manifold, 
and etc., though I did have to loosen the four bolts common to it and 
the heads to reattach the rear hoses. This may be of value to someone 
who has a situation like mine where the o-rings and hoses under the 
intake do not need attention (replaced recently). 



Dan in Cocoa, FL (3932)






Subject: My water pump failed again, revisited.




Thought I'd share my experience this weekend.

After rebuilding the engine because of a bad water pump, the darn 
thing failed again on the first day I actually drove it anywhere 
after the rebuild.

When I took the failed water pump out this weekend, the pulley would 
not rotate (and by the way, I only removed the belt, the throttle 
barrel assembly and the intake plenum 'w pipe'). 

I saw on www.specialtauto.com a picture showing how to tell if the 
pulley was pushed on far enough and sure enough it was out 3/4 of an 
inch.

When I took the back of the pump off, I found that the impeller wheel 
had indeed been rubbing the back of the water pump case, and in fact 
there was quite a bit of damage to both the back and the impeller 
wheel too.

This rubbing must have transferred the heat to the seal, and caused a 
failure. I figure I sped up the process by having the belt very 
tight, which caused the pulley and impeller to try to align, causing 
it to push into the backing.

I think I'll let SpecialTAuto put on the pulley this time. Would have 
saved me this fun experience!!


Dan in Cocoa (3932) 

Dan Foss 
(321) 476-3701