Ongoing water pump problem

[divit250r]

i'm just throwing this out there.... did you post earlier that you changed the heads and intake? if so could you have gotten the head or intake gaskets on upside or backwards, that could block a coolant port and cause overheating and no heat to the heatercore. as i said just a thought and if off base please somebody straighten me out

The head gaskets could be backwards (wrong end toward the front), or you could have a massive amount of air in the cooling system. Air won't heat up like the liquid, and will give no heat out of the heating system. How have you been refilling the engine with coolant? One little trick that works well is to buy a thermostat that has a bypass 'ball' in it, or drill a very small bleed hole through the flange and once you have the upper radiator hose off, slowly pour coolant directly into the water outlet. It's worked well for me in the past. Good luck!

Scott

 

[lparsons]

yeah I know after market water outlets leak sometimes, at least i read a few threads about them.

That aftermarket water outlet was a total POS. Factory one looked good so it is back on now.

Also just one more thing, are you burping the system when you initially start the car?

Re-burping right now, though I see steam coming out again so I'm not sure this is accomplishing what I need, unfortunately.

I dont know if i skipped over it before but where is the steam coming from?

I watched steam come out from the left (passenger) side of the water outlet, right underneath the tube.

Also I do know that a blown head gasket does cause overheating, too, but I dont know if that would be causing your problem. One way to check that is see if your oil is a milkshake but that requires an oil change and if you are tight on a budget I would look at some of the smaller stuff.

I'll probably be due for an oil change in not too long, and I do have money aside for that.

Thanks

did you post earlier that you changed the heads and intake?

No, that wasn't me. As much as I wouldn't mind a little more power, heads and intake are beyond my time and money restraints.

And as incompetent as I feel right now, they are beyond my skill restraints as well

 

[lparsons]

Tow truck on the way

Clearly I am too much of an incompetent buffoon to solve this problem, though I do thank everyone for their input. Unfortunately after every fix I attempt, I end up with the same problem. Even when burping the system the car overheated (and never produced heat inside) - in about 2 minutes it went from below the N in normal to almost overheat.

I called AAA to tow the car to a ford dealer. I figured as hard as parts are getting to find out here (Upstate New York) it would be worthwhile to take it to a dealer so the parts would be easier to get. Hopefully they don't screw me too badly; this is a dealer I haven't used before.

Thanks again everyone. I wish I had a positive conclusion to this.

Do intake manifold gaskets go often? The location of the leak is not far from the interface between the intake manifold and the passenger side of the engine. The intake manifold is cooled by coolant as well, isn't it? This is a 5.0 HO (non-cobra).

 

[revhead347]

The coolant travels up from the heads into the intake, then into the water outlet. If the intake gasket is blown, then it could leak from there. The head gaskets are far more likely to leak than the intake gaskets. Also, a coolant leak in a head gasket doesn't necessarily mean a coolant to oil leak. Sometimes you blow a head gasket from the water jacket out the side of the engine and into the combustion chamber, and it never shows up in the oil. I've had this happen before. So don't assume that the head gaskets are fine just because there is no water in the oil. They can check to see if the head gaskets are blown by running a chemical test on the coolant to see if there are any exhaust gasses in it.

Kurt

 

[lparsons]

Conclusion

Well, it turns out I was almost there. The dealer replaced the water outlet gasket and thermostat (again) because even on my third try I still didn't get the thermostat to sit correctly. Once they achieved a proper seal with the new gasket and thermostat all was good.

Unfortunately I paid the dealer almost $300 by the time it was all said and done.

If anyone needs a water pump, I put my old one up in the classifieds here. Free for anyone who wants to pick it up (or pay for shipping). I cannot say with absolute certainty whether the old pump works or not - but the car was leaking antifreeze before and after removal of the old pump, and the impeller on the old pump still turns well when turning the pulley shaft.

 

[revhead347]

HOLY JESUS. $300 to change a thermostat and gasket. That's like 10 minutes of work.

Kurt

 

[lparsons]

The dealer explained the $300 by including diagnostic charge, something like two and a half hours worth of labor, and the price for the gasket and thermostat (therefore the third thermostat I bought in a week).

Also included in the $300 was the required NY state annual inspection (which I was about 2 months late for). Inspection was $22 of the $300 total.

Though I wasn't real fond of paying that much I apparently was too much of a blithering idiot to get that part right myself, and hence hadn't driven my own car in over a week. So I had to do what I had to do in order to get my car on the road again.

Hell, it was still better than the completely awful $600+ brake job I had a few years ago.