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Folks,
Are there some guidelines as to how long a waterpump should be in service?
There appears to be two basic type of water pumps: Factory and aftermarket
My c20 is showing signs of running hot at freeway speeds with the A/C on. WP in this case is about 8 years on the truck, and is a Autozone duralast pump.
HammerWerf
If there are no leaks and the bearing is smooth, its good to go.
The issue with the heating is likley a plugged radiator core and or crap obstructing the flow of air. ( Leaves, bugs and crud between the condenser and the radiator)
Likely a combination of the lot.
The Radiators in our trucks have little room for any compromise.
When they are fresh and new, they are fine. Once the ravages of time, deposits in the cooling system from whatever crappy stuff was in water used causes sediment to plug things up the system goes downhill quickly.
There is simply only one good solution in my mind for a high mile unit that heats up.
A new visteon radiator and fresh coolant plus making sure the fan clutch is in good order.
I know this is not what you wanted to hear, but it will likely fix the issues.
My DaHoooley had the same troubles in hot weather.
Run fairly fine at 80F as long as no heavy pulls. 90+ F and a hard pull, :eek:
Gonna get hot 220 F = till the fan came on
The inside of the radiator just cruds up so that the heat can't get transfered out.
Cold weather will generally see acceptable opperation.
Best
Robyn
Probably radiator related. I agree with Robyn. I have flushed new radiators and gotten crud out paint dust, dirt dust, grit etc from lower hose after petcock drained. Petcocks don't surge enough water out to really flush them out they allow stuff to come out of suspension and some stuff needs to be forced out.
I have replaced water pumps when they start weeping coolant for the most part. Or at timing belt in this case chain. Not sure there is any other real reason to change them other than the bearing wearing out and causing issue with leakage.
I have a Mitsubishi truck and the water pump went close to 200K miles on OE water pump 10 yrs old iirc. I am guessing thats about normal depending on coolant maintenance ( I didn't really do any). Then further guessing not too many more miles (or by then) and its time for an IP or chain and then most go back with new water pump to save on labor while you are there.
I got a cup-and-a-half of crud out of my 6.9L diesel van, formerly owned by my ex-brother-in-law. The radiator (already replaced) wasn't worth reworking.
One should use NOTHING but distilled water (and antifreeze) in a cooling system. I wouldn't trust the "ready to use" 50/50 mixes, as who knows what they add for water.
The Helm OEM manual advises not to renew the pump unless it craps out-- so just corroborating what Robyn et al wrote above.
The coolant reservoirs tend to crack/leak after a while ; thermostats ought be replaced maybe every 100kMi or 5 years ... they sometimes stop opening fully with age/time.
Maybe start by cleaning up the airflow path , and thermo replacement. I guess this is 1984, that maybe 6.5/DS4 Retrofit ??
Well , '97-UP had larger head cooling passages , dual thermostats ... MorePower discovered that the later fan+clutch {stocked by J Kennedy} increases aircooling flow considerably.
So new radiator + fan/clutch could make big difference, if need be.
I got 170,000 miles out of my first water pump.