Re: milano pump survey--Yet another data point

[Hirsch <Catenary@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The car is an '87 Milano Platinum.

At about 50,000 miles we were driving from Chicago to our home =

in St Louis on Labor Day, when about 160 miles from St Louis =

the engine developed a odd whine. A few seconds later, the alt. =

light lite. We pulled off the road and opened the hood to find =

the alt. drive belt shredded. The water pump bearing was frozen =

and would not turn. We had the car towed home some 160 miles. =

Unfortunately, since it was Labor Day the car could not be towed =

until the next day, so we spent the night in Lincoln IL.

One way the breakdown affected me is that now I always carry a =

spare water pump with me in the car when I go on a trip. In fact, =

a water pump and an alt. drive belt are the only spare parts I =

carry in the car. =


=46rom talking to other Milano owners, reading AROC newsletters, and =

this Digest, I've learned that there are generally two Milano/GTV6 =

water pump failure modes:

1) Water pump leaks water to give warning that it needs replacing.
2) Water pump shows no evidence of leakage and bearing freezes.

Although the first failure mode is apparently more common, my water =

pump chose to fail via mode 2. So look for leaks from the pump and =

check for bearing wear by wiggling the pump pulley from side to side. =

Excessive play may indicate pump failure in the near future. =


Another method of preventing catastrophic pump failure that I practice =

is to replace the pump every 30k miles or so. I generally do this when =

I replace the timing belt. For an overview on pump replacement, see the =

article "The 30,000 Mile Milano Malady" by Erik Roe at the Oregon =

AROC website:

   http://www.alfaclub.org/techstff/mwaterp.htm

Rich
Editor, i Saluti, St Louis AROC
Website: http://www.catenary.com/victor/isaluti

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