Water Pump Rebuild--Another Present From the PO

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

I recently cleaned my motors' coolant circuits (fresh) with Penray In-Servce for about a month while I was in the yard. What came out was dirty, but unremarkable. After flushing again and refilling with PowerCool 3000, I noticed a pretty good drip from the starboard side water pump's weep hole. (This is when I was especially glad I had taps installed to neatly and quickly drain 24 gallons (also $220) of brand new coolant into 5 gallon buckets.) I'm guessing a sediment deposit was helping the water seal do it's thing before I cleaned the system.

The local Detroit dealer was no help. Can't buy the water seal alone (Book says you can pull the seal w/o pulling the pump, so why?). Rebuild kit was $245 plus another $40 if I needed it in 10 days. DieselPro.com to the rescue. Still no seal alone, but the kit was half price and in stock. Probably not genuine DD parts, but then I didn't need the races, new shaft, etc. (write if you do). The pump is otherwise tight, so I really didn't feel like pulling it and taking it to a shop to have the old races pressed out.

Here's the pump BEFORE I went to the torch.
IMG_0466.jpg

Took an hour and half to remove four 5/16" X 3/4" bolts without wringing them off.

Turned out that was the easy part. Apparently, the PO had the same leak and didn't spend the money to fix it properly. He just reinstalled the old seal with Permatex oozing out all around it. That seal wouldn't budge and pullers only bent the flanges outward under pressure. Of course, it shouldn't have taken another three hours to get the seal out; it's just that not damaging the shaft seemed important at the time. The seal did eventually come out--piece by piece. It was a real pleasure getting the remaining sealant out of that seat--another hour.

Here's what it looked like all cleaned up and ready for reassembly.
IMG_0467.jpg

The inlet and oil cooler inlet pipes had 35 years of paint stripped away and acid treated for rust before repainting. New impeller, silicone hoses, clamps and SS bolts (with anti-seize) completed the reassembly. The pipes both had a collection of rusted and short bolts that were replaced and torqued to specs. I made new gaskets and a spare set for the port side while I was at it. All back together, I refilled through my HE drain valve with tap water and some food coloring. After running up above 150 degrees (all I can get dockside), she was tight and dry. Finally, I grabbed my truss and took two Alleve and commenced to tot'n that nearly #200 of coolant back downstairs for one more refill.

Recently, I was asked if I ever get tired of all the work I do on Aslan. Good question.

[SKYCHENEY]

Nicely done. Very satisfying to do the job the right way. I doubt most of the "professionals" would have paid as much attention to detail.

[jim rosenthal]

X2 on that. Looks beautiful. There is so much satisfaction in doing something right, especially when the previous operator did it wrong. Doesn't make it easy, though.

[Avenger]

Next time,... here's a mechanic's trick for you. On a press fit seal you can sometimes get a socket or some other item that fits on the seal case and either press, or drive it in a little with a hammer. This breaks the bond between the seal and housing making it much easier to pull. Naturally it only works if there is enough space in the bore for the seal to move.

[rustybucket]

What kind of gasket material is that? Nice work btw!!

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

Y'all are right. Very satisfying to know you've gotten rid of bad work and put it back together according to the book. Plus, I know you guys. I won't be around forever, and I don't want Aslan's next owner and you guys slam'n me too hard...not that this'll make any difference. This forum needs a motto. How about, "This is not a place for folks with sensitive feelings"?

Good tip on pushing seal in to break the seal's seal. Might have helped. This guy apparently got a good deal on Permatex.

Gasket material? Cover plate gasket was in the kit. Don't remember re flange gaskets. I just asked for some remnants at the hose shop and they gave me more than enough. It's slightly thicker than the OEM stuff. The pipe bolts were 3/8", so I punched the gaskets 7/16" to give me some help. I gave the gaskets a light smear of Permatex water pump/thermostat housing sealant just to be sure.

Even though I put on new clamps, I'm going to swap them out with T-bolt clamps. Could double clamp, but I like the T-bolt's wide band. A clamp failure on pipes that size (2-7/8" & 3-1/2") and on the bottom of the motor can make a situation over before it began. I had an upper hose clamp failure a couple of years back and dumped 8-9 gallons of coolant in the bilge. But that event probably took 15 minutes to evolve offering plenty of time to shutdown below 200 degrees.