2008 Civic Water Pump Pulley Fell Off

[EdwardC]

A friend of mine's 2008 Civic with the R18 and about 100k miles had an issue the other day. After grocery shopping, the car was started up and there was a loud clunk, then the power steering went out, Battery light came on, etc. As expected, it was the accessory belt. I offered to take a look at it (hoping it was just a shredded serpentine belt), but it turns out, the pulley on the water pump fell off. There appears to be a "hub" that is pressed on the water pump shaft, that has 3 bolts that bolt to the pulley itself.

I was poking around and tried putting the pulley back on to try spinning the water pump. It spun very smoothly and freely by hand, the shaft felt very tight, without any side to side play.

The car was taken to a local garage, they were rightfully concerned about it being potentially overheated and suggested replacing the water pump, belt and thermostat. Not sure if the thermostat is really necessary, but probably not a terrible idea. I'm not concerned with overheating knowing that the car was only driven about a mile after starting at the grocery store, and about 3/4 of a mile the day after to the garage (I doubt the engine even warmed up in both cases).

I'm just wondering, could it have been something else that caused the pulley hub to come off? It spun smoothly by hand but maybe there was solid gunk in the cooling system?

 

[andyd]

!00K is decent life for any auto part. Having the hub separate from the shaft is not a failure mode I have heard of before.

 

[SnowDrifter]

How did the pulley come off? Did it shear off? bolts back out?

As to the thermostat - it's pretty standard practice with any cooling system work. Either water pump or radiator gets a thermostat

 

[HangFire]

You said belt, did you mean timing belt? If so, 100K is about the right mileage to do it, and the water pump is usually done at the same time. Get genuine Honda parts, not Gates.

 

[L_Sludger]

I would have just put the pulley back on with loctite on the fasteners, then called it good. Somewhere down the line, someone messed with it and didn't torque the fasteners back onto it correctly, hence it fell off.

 

[user52165]

Originally Posted By: HangFire
You said belt, did you mean timing belt? If so, 100K is about the right mileage to do it, and the water pump is usually done at the same time. Get genuine Honda parts, not Gates.


This engine has a timing chain, not a belt.

 

[user52165]

My daughter has the exact same car and miles. This is very odd. Had it been serviced lately? Most likely there would should have been warning something was loose. Why would 3 bolts all come out at once? Or was one already gone earlier? This is a very good engine if properly maintained, easy and cheap to service. Let us know the outcome, could have been much worse under other conditions.

 

[Silk]

Sounds like the pulley boss came off, not the bolts or nuts that hold the pulley on. I've seen it happen before, but very rare and usually on something really high mileage. Back in the days when we rebuilt water pumps, we would press the pulley boss off and on again.

 

[EdwardC]

Sorry, yes, Silk is correct. The three bolts were still tight holding the pulley onto the hub. It was the hub that came off the shaft. And yes, it's a timing chain engine, so no belt to replace there.

If it was my car, I'd probably have considered pulling the WP just to see if I could have easy access to press the hub back on the shaft. The shaft had no external threads or a threaded hole. There was some surface rust on the shaft and the inside surface of the hub. I would have guess that if it was pressed on tightly, little to no liquid would have gotten in. I'll ask them what the outcome was this weekend and report back.

 

[user52165]

100K - replace the water pump with OEM.

 

[The Critic]

Are you sure that this is a 2008 and not a 2007? There was a campaign on the 2006-2007 Civics for this exact issue. The campaign ID was #08-039. The fix involved installing an updated pulley along with different bolts.

 

[EdwardC]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Are you sure that this is a 2008 and not a 2007? There was a campaign on the 2006-2007 Civics for this exact issue. The campaign ID was #08-039. The fix involved installing an updated pulley along with different bolts.


Yeah, I saw that when I was googling as well, I didn't check the VIN, but I confirmed with them that it was an '08. I was hoping it was an '07!

 

[CorvairGeek]

It does happen. Had one with less than 15K miles do it (different vehicle and brand pump, still had the box - never again). It was obvious that a locking compound is what retained the hub, not a press fit. It happened that my daughter had the same comment when she called except it 'was really hard to steer'. Glad she is an athlete and was able to pull into a parking lot safely. The car does have a lot of weight over the front wheels.

 

[CorvairGeek]

Originally Posted By: CorvairGeek
It does happen. Had one with less than 15K miles do it (different vehicle and brand pump, still had the box - never again). It was obvious that a locking compound is what retained the hub, not a press fit. It happened that my daughter had the same comment when she called except it 'was really hard to steer'. Glad she is an athlete and was able to pull into a parking lot safely. The car does have a lot of weight over the front wheels.


Double checked, we were actually at 20K miles.