RE: Water Pump Rookie

["Paul Novak" <spammit@domain.elided>]

Tony,

Until the water pump went on my spider this summer, I thought that water
pump failure was *always* preceded by leakage through the weep hole.

It made a nasty grinding sound that I thought was coming from the alternator
bearings.  I even ordered replacement bearings for the alternator since it
was working fine otherwise.  Before the replacement bearings came in, the
pump suddenly failed while I was driving in traffic on the highway.  It just
seized up completely.  The fan belt made a nasty stink and broke.  As I was
thinking 'I sure hope that smell is not from my car...' I noticed that the
tach now read zero (driven off the water pump) and the temp gauge shot up.
Needless to say, I pulled over ASAP.

A few months before this entertaining event, I had replaced the fan belt.  I
don't think I over-tightened it, it may have been enough to finish off the
old bearing.  Now I have the belt as loose as possible without slipping.

When I replaced the pump, I could see that the scraping noise was actually
from the impeller rubbing on the inside of the pump.

That water pump on ebay looks nothing like the pump for a spider.  Maybe
it's for something with a timing belt?

Regards,

Paul.
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