I've been losing an appreciable amount of coolant on each drive for the past few weeks. Finally I spotted the culprit: coolant is dribbling out the grease fitting on the top of the water pump. I just overhauled this pump some 5,000 miles ago with all new parts... shaft, seals, etc. I'm wondering if I just have an issue with the grease fitting itself, and perhaps a new fitting (or additional grease, if I can get my gun in there) will resolve the problem, or is this indicative of the need for another shaft/seal rebuild?
Surely others have experienced this same issue?
Phil
Austin
Sounds to me like only the fitting is leaking. Pump a bit of grease into it but be careful not to wreck your seals. Just pump until you feel resistance. BUT the zerks ar cheap and easy to come by. Your best bet is to change it and see if it still leaks. No leak out the impeller shaft is a good thing.
Phil, I would try putting some grease in and see if that fixes it. pressure from the grease gun will tend to force the chevron seals against the shaft and that may be all you need. I think your zerk grease fitting is correct. It's recommended to remove the little check valve in the grease fitting so that grease, when it expands from the engine heat, has a place to go rather than into the engine water jacket.
If greasing it doesn't work I would suggest taking the pump apart and put in modern lip seals in place of the old chevron packing seals. This should stop water leakage out through the pump. Frank DeCou had a little write up on how to do it and Whit Otis made a more detailed write up which John Washburn published in a resent Self Starter.
Tom Beaver
Phil,
Hi. Are you using the correct grease? I only know of one company that manufactures the correct grease for these type of pumps. It's a Calcium based grease made by Lubriplate (#115). I buy it a 14 oz. can. Have used it in two pumps with no leaking whatsoever past the seals. It comes in a can, so what I do is take one of those little "mini" grease gun cartridges, empty out the existing grease, clean out the cartridge 'till it's spotless, and hand pack the grease back into the cartridge. A little bit of a PITA, but since you have to do it, you might as well do it right. Go slow when adding so you don't blow past the seals. Good Luck!
Bob
This forum rocks.. Thanks guys. I'll try all these suggestions and report back
Phil