How hard is the water pump? I'm all paranoid now about my "new to me" Gen II.5 <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Just to throw my two cents in. When the water pump starts to go, It usually gives you fair warning before totally going to $hiit. When the bearing/seals go bad the weep hole will start allowing coolant to escape. When you see coolant leaking on the passenger side bottom near where the alternator is mounted, then its goiong bad. That being said, keep an eye on it. Water pump going out does not necesarily mean automatic catastrophic failure.

I agree. You will overheat long before the belt goes. Yes, it is an interference engine (stupid idea <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />)

The reason I mentioned all the rubber parts including the water pump is because the orange coolant does nasty stuff to rubber parts not designed to accept that coolant. That includes seals in water pumps. I spoke to the Mitsu techs I deal with as well as some GM techs.

Both specifically said that - depending on how long the wrong coolant was in the system - all the seals and hoses should be replaced. Both told me that no matter WHAT rubber parts you use the new coolant decreases the life span of rubber parts in the cooling system significantly.

I spoke to a tech two months ago and he said it was almost impossible to tell a hose was bad until he tried to take them off and then the rubber just kinda disintegrates. I think the point he was trying to make was even if it looks perfectly fine - replace them.

Nobody I talked to had anything nice to say about that stuff. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Anyway, thought I'd pass that along.

Edward

thank you. it looks like I have a big problem and a big job ahead of me?

i have taken off the hoses, they didn't fall apart; but I hear what you are saying.

should I try to continue to clean it up as much as I can or just get it all done? water pump is not leaking at all, no overheating, nothing bad is happening other than the coolant is just nasty after a while of changing it.

for example, it was very clean when I picked it up this morning, but after 3 hours on the highway at 80mph, it was all black in color in the overflow tank and there was so much more sediment in the bottom of overflow bottle that I couldn't close the cap without crunching the little rubber straw.

I will have to flush this thing a lot to get it clean, but like I said, nothing leaking, hoses didn't fall apart when removed.

on a side note, I spoke a mechanic that has worked on my dad's vehicles for many years; I asked his advice on the situation here is what he said:

when orange and green are mixed, the PH gets all out of whack.........best first step to cleanse the system is to drain and flush it empty as much as possible, fill with water and put in anti-rust/water pump lube treatment and run it like that for a week; he said that stuff is formulated to help stabilize the PH and break up the sediments.

any input?

Wow... your throwing alot of symptoms off that my blue LWB was giving me when I had a head gasket breach. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

I had my head gasket breach between the cylinder and water jacket. It started with gurgling and black coolant. It ended with my radiator dumping all coolant into the reservoir and slight overheating. Lets hope that isn't your case. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" />

i doubt it, it doesn't lose coolant and it doesn't over heat.

I am still hearing the sound under the dash when reving engine........I have never in my life had such difficulty with air in the system, could it be that the core is still got quite a bit of blockage and that is what is causing the noise? or is something in the core damaged and rattling around? I am really getting frustrated b/c despite my time and money involved, I am making no progress.

I still think the reason you're getting that sound is you either didn't properly remove the air when filling your cooling system or you're still loosing coolant (which Is where I experienced these symptoms before).

I have a problem with the residue causing an air bubble theory because the residue would have to cling to the top of the water passages and create barrier above the passage to block the air from escaping. Based on your comments it sounded like this residue doesn't exactly float does it?

If not, how could it create a barrier that blocks the air from escaping from the top of the passages? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

I really hope its not but its exactly what my Montero did. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />