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Water Pump Failure Traveling To The Eclipse

Camper_Jeff___K
Nomad II
Nomad II

https://youtu.be/8FPLb5w8PRM 

 

Water Pump Failure OR A Not So Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The April 8th Solar Eclipse
We were a couple hundred miles into our trip to see the solar eclipse. we were just passing Grandview and approaching Prosser, Wine Country in Washington. Just as we were passing a truck stop, steam began violently billowing out from under the hood in all directions. We stopped immediately, so no en<span;><span;><span;>gine damage would occur. I saw a heater hose burst, so I fixed that and thought we'd be on our way but not so fast. the engine was still overheating. I thought the situation over and decided since no bubbles were in the coolant, I could eliminate head gasket failure. The next thing was water pump failure which proved to be the right diagnosis. it was now Easter morning and I was doubtful we would find an Auto parts store open. As luck would have it, Oreillys in Grandview opened at 8 AM. Even more surprising was the manager stepped up and went the extra mile, delivering the part and some other items to us at the teuck stop. A lifesaver indeed. While waiting for delivery, I pulled out the fan, pully, and water pump. The old pump showed no sign of a failure and looked normal. I installed the new pump anyway.  The new pump worked and the engine is running great with running temperatures between 173 and 183. Never going above or below those temperatures since installing the new pump.
There will always be another breakdown and when it happens,  I'll be ready for it. Being able to do my own repairs has saved me many thousands of dollars over the years. I hope my videos will help you do the same.

5 REPLIES 5

Camper_Jeff___K
Nomad II
Nomad II

I now think a piece of the intake manifold broke off, was sucked up into the hose from the crossover to the heater core, plugged the hose where the reducer is in the formed hose just off the crossover tube, preventing coolant from being circulated by the water pump, causing the boil over. That event continued to worsen during our whole trip of a few thousand miles over a couple months. I am in the the process of changing the head gaskets and adding several performance enhancements. I have several videos of what I'm doing to the truck that clearly demonstrate to anyone else wanting to do the same modifications coming up soon.  This is my best theory to date. On inspection, I couldn't see that the old water pump could have been the problem but I changed it. My new video on the rear of the head coolant crossover adaptors will show a great way to prevent this from happening again because there are now two paths to the water pump.

Grit_dog
Navigator
Navigator

It helps to be handyโ€ฆfo sho. 
Unfortunately not everyone is as mechanically inclined or prepared. 
But if a guy is driving old iron, it sure gets spendy if he ainโ€™t!

on topic, thought you put a NEW engine in that truck a couple few years back. If so, that seems like an early water pump failure. 
Or maybe you ran the old water pump when you did the engine swap?

2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5โ€ turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold

I looked at the two pumps, side by side. The differences were minimal. I could find no indication of failure on the old pump. The only thing I could of is the the impeller felt tight when I tried to see if it was lose but when in the engine pumping coolant, there must be a lot more resistance and perhaps it was slipping while pushing fluid. Whatever the case, the new pump works and the truck is running great, until the ne t mechanical issue that is.

Sounds like the water pump went bad and blew the hose?

I have similar truck (99 F350, V10) with original water pump but with only 78k miles.

Good job on the on the road repair!

I'm pretty sure the hose blew out due to the resulting high temperature pressure and boil over. My scanner in monitoring mode read 240 degrees. It's been a couple weeks now and the truck is running fine and at proper temperatures 174 to 183, never higher, never lower. Other problems have popped up and been dealt with since. This trip has been a real mechanics special so far, and something tells me the future isn't going to disappoint in the fix it department.

As Fred Sanford would say to Lamont, I feel the big one coming on. We shall see. Take care...