water pump died

QuietOutdoorsman · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:28 pm

I haven't been on in quite some time due to....welll....life getting in the way of having fun. Searched but couldn't find anything.

Just had my water pump start going out. It's leaking out the impeller shaft bearing, spraying onto the pulley and the serpentine belt which sprays coolant all over the front of the engine block, tensioner pulley, alternator, etc. I don't expect a water pump to last forever, but it's under 40k miles! I do have the heavy duty engine cooling, so maybe that big fan bolted to the impeller shaft accelerated this, but this is unbelievable.

How I noticed the problem is from a lack of heat. Saturday night driving home I noticed everytime I came to a stoplight, I would loose all cabin heat with the engine at idle. The engine wasn't overheating. So when I got home I checked the fluid level and the reservoir was completely empty. Never noticed any driveway spots or anything like that. Sunday I put in 2 - 2 1/2 quarts of water. Put in 1 1/2 quarts in the reservoir, filling it to the cold fill line, ran the engine at idle up to temp and watched the reservoir drain to almost empty. Shut off the engine and added more water to get back up to near the cold fill line. That's when I saw the signs of water spray on and around the water pump.

The water pump IS covered under the powertrain warranty, with $100 deductible. $100 for a water pump job is ok by me. The problem is the pump going out already. I'm glad I didn't toast the engine.

2004 KJ Sport, 3.7L, 5spd manual, stock tow/skid plate/heavy duty cooling packages. 39,833 miles as of this post.

I think the problem is that since I bought my house in March, I have only a 2 mile commute to/from work. I think I need to buy a POS beater car to do the commute. Or walk more often.

Ok, more of a rant than anything else. Has anyone else had this problem?

Dirk

USPLibby · **Joined:** Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:29 am **Posts:** 377

The first thing that I did when I bought my Liberty is add Prestone's rust inhibitor/water pump lubricant. I used to go through water pumps much more frequently in my other cars but since using this rust inhibitor in all of them, I haven't had any problems with any of my water pumps. It's going on 12+ years with my old MGB. The constant heating and cooling of the coolant fluid mixture can slowly build up with things like acids and rust. The lubricant keeps the bearings lubed and the seals tight too.

Bodz123 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:08 pm

I second that. The coolant acts as a lubericant, if your running the wrong mixture of water and antifreeze or running a crappy antifreeze this can aid in the breakdown of the pump, also if your running tap or filterd water in your mixture it will also slowly break down (eat away) at your pump and radiator (ONLY USE DISTILLED WATER!). Now if the coolant has only been serviced by the dealer and your the original owner than you just got a faulty pump.

QuietOutdoorsman · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:37 pm

I know the coolant acts as a lubricant and I would normally not have just added tap water like I did. I did that as a stop-gap to limp the engine along until it goes into the shop tomorrow. I'm going to make sure they do a full flush when they pull the water pump out.

The coolant & water pump have never been serviced before. It's the original coolant from the factory. I probably should have doen a flush & fill at least once by now, but hadn't gotten around to it. With more miles I think that would have been a factor, but not with the low miles I've got. I think it was just a bad pump.

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:54 pm

At 40,000 miles the coolant probably didn't need to be serviced yet. It's a shame that your pump went bad though.... At least it's covered under warranty which will save you the bloody knuckle work.

not to rub in salt but my 02 has 63K miles on it with the original coolant and it doesn't leak a drop

KJ04 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:09 pm

Don't feel so bad, mine went out last month at 25,000 mi.

detroit_doc · **Posted:** Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:44 pm

Mine went out recently at about 46,000 miles. I replaced it myself as the part from Mopar was only $56 and I don't trust those yahoos working at the dealership. While I was in there I replaced the upper and lower radiator hoses, the thermostat, serp belt, tensioner and flushed and filled the coolant.

Mine didn't leak, I just started getting a lot of noise coming from my accessory drive. I pull the tension off the belt and spun each accessory. When I got to the water pump I could barely turn it over.

I've owned GM x 3, Dodge x 1, Plymouth x 1, Jeep x 3, Honda x 2, Subaru x 1. From best to worst as far as reliability here is how I'd rate them....

1) Honda - Never serviced
2) Subaru - Never serviced
3) GM - Good number of minor problems
4) Dodge - 1 Minor electrical problem left me stranded
5) Plymouth - 1 major problem (stranded, motor rebuilt)
6) Jeep - Lots of problems major and minor.

andOrr · **Posted:** Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:14 am

Mine went earlier this year at 43,000 miles, covered by warranty. I would hear a squeal from the engine, particularly at a point around 2k rpm. Though, they claimed my belt was bad too, so that might have been part of it. I didn't balk, since I'm alway overly cautious about engine belts.

InCommando · **Posted:** Thu Nov 08, 2007 2:09 am

KJ04 wrote:

Don't feel so bad, mine went out last month at 25,000 mi.

Mine didn't make it to 17,000

water pump died

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