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Symptoms of a bust water pump?


Ben_SS

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"Kseries 1400SS"

 

Last time I used the 7 it overheated and blew its coolant out of the expansion tank. I put this down to the thermostat so replaced it.

 

At the same time I replaced all the coolant hoses as at ten years old they were starting to perish.

I sent an hour charging the coolant system and bleeding it through. I suspected the water pump then but by the end the water appeared to be circulating.

 

I went for a drive last night and it overheated again, blowing its coolant out of the expansion tank. The lower hose, off the thermostat to the bottom of the rad, was cold yet the car had been running at 88deg.

 

Does this sound like the water pump?

 

Is it a DIY fix replacing the water pump?

 

I'm very keen for the car to be running by next thursday as I'm getting married on the Friday *thumbup*

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Does not sound like the water pump to me. It is hard to imagine how the water pump could fail as its a pressed steel impellor on a common shaft with a toothed pulley driven by the cam belt. Obviously the only way the pump could fail to pump would be if the impellor had come away from the shaft this is unlikely. Over pressurizing is usually down to either and airlocked coolant system, stuck thermostat or corrosion of the head around the headgasket fire rings or headgasket failure.

 

Run the engine up from cold for 30sec-a minute at tickover. Stop the engine and unscrew the coolant expansion bottle top carefully with a rag, if it releases loads of pressure then suspect the HG or head and the head will have to be lifted.

 

Edited by - Rob Walker on 25 Aug 2006 09:24:36

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Ben,

I had this problem on a 1.8 K Series. It turned out to be a liner height issue ☹️

The cold hose at the bottom does suggest an airlock in the system.

 

 

 

Edited by - Tin Man on 25 Aug 2006 12:29:58

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Myles, most garages will have a tester. It's like a hydrometer (well at least the one I saw was)

 

I think it's fairly common now, we never had them when I was running garages, we used skill and experience to diagnose things.

 

Norman Verona, 1989 BDR 220bhp, Reg: B16BDR, Mem No 2166, the full story here

You and your seven to The French Blatting Company Limited

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Thanks for the advise

 

In the mean time, call me foolish, but I replaced the expansion tank cap, disconnected teh heater and ran it up for 20mins carefully checking and rechecking the coolant levels. It stayed around the 80deg mark as you'd expect. I had to actually remove some coolant after doing this proceedure twice. Did I over fill it last time?

 

Anyway after letting it cool for 15-20 mins I released the cap and there was no gas build up and no other evidence of HGF, so I bombed it 200miles down south cruising at 85-95 with the odd blast up to 120+(indicated), roof off, pouring rain, but everything running well. I'm going to check the coolant level again in a mo and see if any has been consumed.

 

Thanks again for the advise guys *cool*

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when my BDR water pump "went" it made a dreadful noise, there was no doubt

 

(replaced overnight by John Noble from Chesterfield, who earlier rebuilt the whole car and then attended Millbrook with me during HPC doings.) He's retired now.

 

 

 

 

Anthony, your average gypsy.

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