I was starting out for the day, drove up the hill and turned toward town. My dash gives me a low coolant warning so I pull over to check the level. It was a little low and I opened up a 12 oz bottled water...poured @ 1/2 in and thought that was that. Stated up the car and hit the gas...'clunk' followed by no power steering and a battery not charging warning. I muscled the car up the hill and coasted home. The following day I looked around and found the wp pulley lying in the front tray.

So in my case, the plastic impellors were fine but the shaft snapped.


and as Rothwell has mentioned, it takes longer to clean up the area than to replace the pump. Since I have it on jack stands at the moment I'll finally install those LED hi beams I have had on the shelf.

life is (still) good.

wj

 

WJ, wow what a headache! Good for you, keeping it positive.

John

 

Well that is a new type of failure. Nice that it was close to home.

Was it a bearing that seized? Looks as if the shaft was twisted till it broke.

If you haven't done the idler pulleys or belt now would be the time for sure while you have all that visibility.

 

Thanks for letting us know. That’s the first time I heard of the shaft breaking on the water pump.

Real rare occurrence and wonder how it happened. Weird!

Let us us know what your plans are while you’re working in that area.

 

A water pump shaft failure is not that uncommon in general. First the bearing has to seize (as pointed out) then it’s just a matter of time...

the inner part of the shaft often has some corrosion which is always a good place for a break to begin.

 

Probably better to have the water pump shaft be the breaking point than e.g. the crankshaft damper. When my power steering pump seized, it caused the crankshaft pulley/damper to loosen. That part, used, was like $700 or something. That was a bad time.

Agreed that the worst part about replacing the water pump is cleaning the area (and any spillage). It was a nice break after doing the tstat housing--those infamous two bolts.

 

I spun the idler/tensioner pulleys and listened with an old stethoscope...no rumbling so I went with the pump and new belt.
The shaft had a old crack (rust line) and given the state of the bearing I can only guess that the initial load I put it under was too much, the bearing was trash but the remaining shaft was not scored.

wj