water pump...

[bonnevista]

I really hate when stuff doesn't last. 

About 11 years ago, I installed the recoed 455 in my barge.  So far, it's all been good.

So, what do I discover today?

After ONLY 171,000 miles (275,000 kilometres) the water pump started to leak.  What the...

Luckily, about 15 years ago (when I still had the original engine fitted), Dave Clee offered me a deal to good to refuse on a new genuine AC Delco water pump, which has been permanently in the boot of my car, just in case.

At least it's good 'working on the car' weather...

[sms777]

Hey Chris, how are you?
I feel your pain mate, bloody Pontiacs. If it was a Chev it would have lasted for at least 172000 miles but what do you do......

[bonnevista]

Chris, I'm well.  I hope you're the same and the lack of Sydney in your life is being good to you.

A little update on the water pump job...

I said earlier, that I was going to use a genuine water pump that I'd had in the boot for years.  Well I didn't use that one.  A few years back, I bought another new pump, only because it was cheap and I used it for the following reason.  If you suffer from insomnia, read on, this will put you straight to sleep...

Firstly, those of us cursed with the Pontiac affliction will be familiar with the 'Pontiacs run hot' story.  Personally, that's never been an issue for me.  After driving all my Pontiac powered cars as daily transport for the past 40 years, I can say that they've all run at normal temperatures and I haven't had to use any type of 'fix' - however, your results may vary.

The supposed 'cure' for your hot running Pontiac is supposed to include using a water pump with a cast impeller instead of pressed metal and clearancing the water pump plate to get it close to the impeller.  Also, possibly using the the water pump pulley from a A/C car to make the pump turn faster.

Anyway, after having this engine in my car for the past 11 years or so and constantly beating the snot out of it, including sitting in heavy traffic on 40 degree days with the A/C cranking and never having any overheating issues, I pull the leaking pump out of the car and find that it had a pressed metal impeller and the clearance between the plate and the impeller was about 1/4 of an inch.  Further the plate was peppered with rusty holes. 

One other thing (2 actually).  I don't use a monster 4 core radiator.  I use an over the counter (from Ponti-World) 2 core aluminium with plastic tanks radiator.  It works great.  From memory it's brand is Spectra.  It's been there for a few years.  When I pulled the radiator out, it was covered with dead grass and bugs, virtually all over the front.  I don't know how any air was getting through.  It took me about 20 minutes to clean it out with the garden hose.

I decided to use the other water pump because it had the cast impeller, but more importantly, the plate that came with it was perfectly clearanced with very little space between the impeller and plate, probably about 1/8 of an inch.  Theoretically, this should work better than the old set up - if that's possible.

My only remaining job today is to flush the system out and fill it with coolant, as I filled it with plain tap water to check for leaks and test drive to get it up to temperature.

So far, we're all good...