1960s fixing problems I didn't know I had (water pump)

[David Greenburg]

Sometimes a repair takes care of more than the original issue.  The water pump on my '61 had started getting noisy and I felt a bit of play in the shaft, so I had it rebuilt. In the course of replacing it, I noticed that the my thermostat was stuck open. Not a huge deal since I rarely need to use the heat, but having replaced it, the car does warm up much quicker.  More importantly, while I hadn't noticed excessive vibration before, the engine is now really smooth.  Moral of the story, particularly given the recent posts about vibration issues- don't overlook your water pump.

This job also served as a reminder, for anyone who doesn't know the trick, of using pieces of threaded rod as pilot studs to hang the pump in place and be sure the gaskets are in the correct position before bolting down the pump.  Otherwise it's very easy for a gasket to wind up out of position and you get to do the job all over again.   

 

[60eldo]

 Good point David, smart.

[gkhashem]

You also can damage the engine if it takes too long to get up to operating temperature. They are designed to run at 198 degrees I think. So a closed thermostat enables the car to reach operating temperature more quickly.

So its more than just getting heat. By leaving coolant in for more than 3-5 years and never changing a cheap item such as a thermostat is being very penny wise and  pound foolish. Can  we say rust and maybe some damage potential to the engine.

Running "cool" is not good just like running too hot is bad also. You want to run at the operating temperature the engineers intended.