Water Pump Dead?

[Lonewolf1983]

my 225,000km old RB20det overheated today.

Limped it home and waited for it to cool down.

Topped it up with 4L of coolant and noted that its making some more noise than usual.

Is it the water pump that is on the back of the clutch fan, and has the bottom radiator hose going into it?

It seems to be coming from there, and I noted that the aforementioned hose is empty (normally i'd expect it to be full of coolant and hence firm).

thoughts?

[Trozzle]

Probably a good assumption there mate...not sure what troubleshooting you can do though, others might know. Perhaps remove the return hose from the plenum to radiator and crank it over, see if water comes out of the hose.

[Lonewolf1983]

i also remember that on the drive home the temp was up high, then dropped down to normal, then high again and stayed there.

makes sense if the pump is fubar?

[blinksta]

When did you replace the pump last, could be faulty thermostat

[Lonewolf1983]

no idea when it was replaced, only had the car a couple of months.

if its the thermostat, could the noise just be from the water pump cavitating (e.g. has no water to pump?), or would it run quietly?

[Lonewolf1983]

the top radiator hose also feels empty, so nothing leaving the radiator, can only be the pump?

[Moodles2]

It's not uncommon to find the factory fitted pump still on RBs that haven't been looked after.. best to take care of this asap before the pump seizes (or at least rule it out).

[Lonewolf1983]

yeah well its not pumping water, and making a lot of noise, its quite possibly the original.

also unsure if the 200,000km timing belt has been done too

[marksuxass]

You say you topped up with 4L of coolant. Do you have any leaks? Is this dans old car?

[Lonewolf1983]

no leaks, the car lost a lot of coolant out the overflow initially as it boiled.

Filled up the rad with 4L, but it doesnt go anywhere

And yes, dans old car

[karma_syke]

4L seems a lot to lose from ? boiling out of the overflow?

if you've had a leak and theres no water flow/flowing poorly then that would explain your water pump making noise and the temp spike.

might have done damage to the water water pump if its just spinning and pumping nothing for a long time.

results are still the same, check signs of a leak.

[Lonewolf1983]

it lost a lot of water out the overflow, i'd say about 4L is accurate.

There was no coolant coming from anywhere but the overflow, but its now hard to test if this is the case as there is no coolant being pumped around the engine at all now.

[MrStabby]

Is the fan wobbly? IIRC when the pump bearings go, the fan will wobble a bit but you'll probably need to loosen the belt to see it. Any sort of noise is a bad sign. If the timing belt is old, baby it around until you get it changed.

[Lonewolf1983]

not wobbly, interested to see the pump once it comes out.

I'll be limping it to the mechanic to have the folllowing done:

new water pump

new alloy radiator

new timing belt

new thermostat

flush block - the old coolant was filthy

[karma_syke]

not wobbly, interested to see the pump once it comes out.

I'll be limping it to the mechanic to have the folllowing done:

new water pump

new alloy radiator

new timing belt

new thermostat

flush block - the old coolant was filthy

sounds like you got it sorted, now just hope your mechanic doesn't charge extortionate prices and does the job right!

[Lonewolf1983]

well yes, heres hoping.

Dont really have much choice without putting it on a flatbed and towing it to a specialist given it will overheat driving any further than down the road!

[karma_syke]

you do have a choice, what you are doing is pretty much a 100k service, there are kits you can buy online which come with the belts and a water pump, there are tutorials on SAU on how to do it as well, it can save you hundreds of dollars in labor fees, just need the time/effort to do it.

[Lonewolf1983]

yeah dont have the time or the tools or space to do it myself unfortunately