Hey everyone,

As usual, used search and cant find anything on the topic...

I had my water pump completely shred internally on me at 80 mph in the middle of Nevada and had to do a change in a parking lot (dont recommend it).

Since then, temps are barely hitting over 100, but I do know they are changing because the needle moves. In addition, the heater is only working intermittently, which I am attributing to the lack of hot coolant/water running to the core.

What I have checked:
I just recently replaced the thermostat, and it was working perfectly before this.

My only lead is the thermostat, but I cant really tell if it is stuck open or not when I have it running in the driveway.

Any thoughts?

 

Are you sure there isn't some metal parts stuck in the thermostat and it's staying open? Your best bet is to pull it and find out.

 

I second that...tstat sounds stuck open.

 

yep sounds like a bad thermostat

Id change it

 

I vote for moving metal as well but never had a water pump eat itself.

This would be one case for running a bit without a thermostat perhaps until any moving metal gets lodged and stops moving.

Personally for years I have never replaced a water pump without replacing the thermostat because it is $10 in parts and next to no extra time with the coolant drained. I can see doing the job in a parking lot would 'encourage' me to skip the thermostat until later.

Let us know what you find.

 

I've seen situations similar to what you describe when there is air trapped in the cooling system. In this case, the coolant in the block is actually too hot, and the upper engine, because of the trapped air is reported as cooler. My suggestion is that you bleed or test bleed the cooling system and see if the coolant temp normalizes.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I just realized after reading this that I bought a thermostat that sticks open when it fails, so that is most likely the problem. It isnt a hard job so I will get back to you guys when I do it.

As for air in the coolant system, it is worth a try to flush it out. I just need to buy a bunch of dex-cool now...

 

An easy old school way of trying to get trapped air out is to lift the PS side of the vehicle, remove the rad cap & run the engine at 1000rpm for 5 or 10 mins. Once it heats up the air should rise to the highest point - the open rad cap.
Keep an eye on the coolant level & you may actually hear it "burp".

 

Well, I followed suggestions for flushing and purging the system AND replaced the thermostat. We are good to go! My wife has a heater for her cold drive in the morning.

Now I am off to document my water pump story somewhere here... is there a sob story thread?

 

Yeah, it's called the "My Oil is Milky is it my LIM" thread. A water pump is at most a 1 hour job for most of us and we're not going to listen to you whine.