I have never seen this before.

[Chris142]

A customer brought in a 1995 Dodge Stratus. It has a 2.5L V6 and overheats. Has coolant in it so thats not the reason why. Heater hoses don't get hot.

I pulled the timing covers and timing belt off(major pita job here) and found the water pump locked up! The water pump is run by the flat side of the timing belt.

Belt was just sliding right past the locked up W/P pulley. No smoke, noise or rubber flying off the belt.

The water pump does not leak either.

Weird.

 

[Gary Allan]

That is a new one. I hope that just replacing the wp fixes everything.

 

[BlazerLT]

Pretty common on mid-90s 4 bangers from Dodge. Neons have the same problem.

 

[JTK]

Sounds like a better setup than the T-belt driven water pumps that ride the toothed side of the belt. Years ago I had a 1984 Ford EXP (2 seater Escort?)that was just the opposite. The water pump seized without warning, sheared all the teeth of the T-belt and stranded me. Luckily, a new water pump, T-belt and few hours of time got me back on the road.

Joel

 

[ms21043]

Originally Posted By: BlazerLT
Pretty common on mid-90s 4 bangers from Dodge. Neons have the same problem.


The Neon water pump is driven from the cogged side of the belt, if the water pump seizes, you lose the belt.

 

[Merkava_4]

Some water pumps rely on the proper coolant/water mix for lubricating the pump's bearing; and some water pumps have a sealed self lubricating bearing; I wonder which type of bearing the Dodge had . . . ?

 

[Shannow]

Never seen anything in the last 20 years use coolant for bearing lubrication...that's a recipe for disaster.

 

[Merkava_4]

Some older American cars anyway, would have the impeller and the shaft bearing completely exposed to the coolant. Antifreeze is some pretty slippery stuff; it would lubricate the shaft bearing quiet nicely, but when the owners kept adding more and more water by itself, the lubricating ability of the coolant mixture would suffer; hence the oncoming bearing failure.

 

[Shannow]

Was that back in the days of water pump pliers, soluble oil, and pre mechanical (carbon) seals ??

 

[XS650]

Can you name a car that intentionaly used the coolant for a bearing lube?

 

[Merkava_4]

It's back in the days when the cooling fans were bolted directly to the water pump pulley and when the shaft bearing gave out, the fan blades would go flying into the radiator coils. Luckily, the water pumps would give a warning ahead of time in the form of a distinct rattling noise if you were the type of guy who was "in tune" with his car.

 

[Merkava_4]

Haven't you guys heard of "Prestone Water Pump Lube" that you pour into your radiator for the soul purpose of lubricating the water pump?

 

[Shannow]

Yes, Bars sells the same thing down here. Castrol sells "soluble oil" for lubricating the water pump.

None of these gets to the bearings if the mechanical (carbon) seal is even remotely functional.

If they DO get to the bearing, then it's seizing time for the pump these days.

 

[Merkava_4]

Quote:
Through the mid ‘70s, most antifreeze contained silicate additives which were abrasives that kept the mineral deposits, in the water, from building up in the cooling systems. Because the silicate additives were abrasive, they also destroyed water pump seals. A water-soluble oil was added to the antifreeze solution to protect the water pump seals. This oil was called water-pump lubricant.

If you used straight water in your cooling system during the summer months (distilled water worked best) you also had to add a pint of rust inhibitor/water pump pump lubricant to the water.


http://www.evanscooling.com/articles/aug98oc.htm

 

[Merkava_4]

Quote:
None of these gets to the bearings if the mechanical (carbon) seal is even remotely functional.


Alright . . . the water pump lube lubricates the shaft seals and keeps them in good shape so that the coolant can't get to the bearing; that's pretty much what I've been saying isn't it?

 

[Chris142]

Update: I got the car back together. Book time is 3.2 hrs. Took me about 10! I don't know how they came up with that book time. The PS pump bracket has to come off and that is a good 2hrs on this car.

Glad I'm hourly and not paid by the job LOL.

 

[artificialist]

The Chrysler 2.7 V6 is also terrible. 6.8 hours to replace the water pump, and more time than I can even remember actually doing the job.

However, I don't know of a single modern engine that doesn't make water pump replacement a huge challenge.