When A Waterpump Bearing Goes Bad...

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They usually leak first. I have never seen one completely seize although it's possible.

Is this a hypothetical based question or have you had or are having problems with a water pump?
 
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To be precise: when a water pump bearing seal starts to go first, that's when you get that wet weeping hole symptoms.

When a water pump bearing seize on you, it may just seize w/o you knowing, or even cause a weephole weep.

squeaking noise from waterpump maybe a sign of the bearing seal starting to go bad, but not to the point of weeping.

Q.
 
Looseness and leaking are common. Seizing is not.
Water pumps are strange. They can leak, then fix themselves for long periods of time.
They can be ridiculously loose and wobbly, and still not leak.

But the norm is leaks, with a rare lock up possible.
 
97 Toyota Avalon: I replaced the timing belt due to a loud clicking/clacking and squealing noise that all but goes away when the car is warm (~15 mins of driving). I took the car to the mechanic and he opened it up and saw that one of the pulleys was bad (tensioner pulley), so I replaced the tensioner pulley, idler pulley and the timing belt, but the waterpump looked fine; no leaking, and the pulley didnt wobble or anything and was just changed 2 years ago and about 30k miles, so I didnt change it. The noise went away for about 2 days, then came back, my mechanic thinks it's the waterpump making the noise now, but is not 100% sure. I wanted to be sure that it is the waterpump making the noise before tearing into it again, so if the waterpump starts to leak soon, I will know it is bad, rather than just guessing. I eliminated the PS pump, alternator and compressor belt/bearing as the cause, as I ran the car with no accessories and it still made that noise.
 
Just so there's no misconception, the water pump is not sealed against the bearing, it's sealed against air. A water pump that is weeping does not mean the bearing is getting washed in coolant. The bearing is also sealed (to keep grease in and weeping coolant out). Those are different seals.

Therefore, a bad water pump bearing does not necessarily mean it will leak, unless the bearing is really bad.
 
WP bearing should be sealed for pressure of system and to keep coolant away from it. Generally antifreeeze+bearings=not good. The WP bearing is a sealed permanent lube type, and given the amount of use, this initial small amount of bearing lube is worked very hard. Some wonder they last as long as they do.
 
I see leaks 99% of the time.

However, sometimes the waterpump bearing does seize rather than leak, and then it snaps off the belt that drove it. Recently I had that happen on a Toyota Tercel. Good thing it wasn't a timing belt driven pump.
 
I just relaced the waterpump on my 94 GC 3.3. It was a new AAP replacement installed around 4-5 years ago with less then 30k miles on it. The inner bearing was trashed so bad the pully wobbled. It only leaked a minimal amount. Wouldn't have even noticed it if it didn't start making a racket.

Looking for my reciept right now to get my money back.
 
A friend at work asked me to listen to a noise his 80-something Mercury Topaz was making. He started it up and a nasty, rythmic screeching eminated from under the hood. I peered down to the water pump pulley and could see it wobbling...the obvious source of the nails-on-a-chalkboard noise. What struck me is that it never leaked a drop of coolant. I don't know how it managed to keep a seal when in such bad shape, but he drove directly from our office to his mechanic and got it changed out. I told him he better keep revs to a minumum, and he made it....screeching and all.
 
Interesting...because when I checked the waterpump with the mechanic, the bearing had no play in it and it spun nicely, no wobble.
 
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