Coolant Coolant everywhere

[itwonder]

My wife took the SHO on a 600 mile road trip this weekend and wouldn't you know 20 miles from home on the way back she called me and said the low coolant light came on solid and she pulled off the road to find steam billowing from the right side. Thankfully, she remembered what I had told her about keeping a watchful eye on the SHO cooling system indicators, and she did the right thing: pulled over taking care not to let it overheat. I went down there to find coolant leaking profusely from the vicinity of the water pump. It took 6 quarts of H2O to fill the radiator. The pump wasn't making any bad noises, so I left the pressure off the radiator cap and headed for home. At 1/2 way point, I stopped and it took 2 quarts to refill. Made it the rest of the way ok with temperature in the normal range. The water pump was replaced 1000 miles ago with a rebuilt unit. Next week, I'll take it find out whether something broke or if I did something incorrectly. I'm glad it was nice enough to do this 20 miles out instead of 300 miles out!

 

[smokekicsazz]

Do you have a 3.2?

 

[SeanMc]

Do you have a 3.2?

1992 = Manual transmission, which is more than likely a 3.0.

 

[itwonder]

Do you have a 3.2?

No, it's a 3.0 MTX.

 

[93rev2sev]

Prolly the o-ring...

Let us know...

 

[itwonder]

Well, it looks like it's the X%&!#=^ Cardone rebuilt water pump. When I add water to the radiator, it comes running out of the little vent hole on the bottom of the pump housing. So I guess the internal seal in the thing let go. This is irony at its best. At the 60K I did 1,000 miles ago, I pulled off a perfectly good Ford water pump that had 120K on it, and replaced it with this Cardone one so I wouldn't have to worry about future water pump problems. Naturally, it bites me in the a$$.

I guess the thing has a lifetime warranty, but I'm reluctant to give Cardone another chance. These things have received positive reviews on the forum, but the problem is you always take a chance with a rebuilt water pump in my experience.

 

[AREA 91]

Well, it looks like it's the X%&!#=^ Cardone rebuilt water pump. When I add water to the radiator, it comes running out of the little vent hole on the bottom of the pump housing. So I guess the internal seal in the thing let go. This is irony at its best. At the 60K I did 1,000 miles ago, I pulled off a perfectly good Ford water pump that had 120K on it, and replaced it with this Cardone one so I wouldn't have to worry about future water pump problems. Naturally, it bites me in the a$$.

I guess the thing has a lifetime warranty, but I'm reluctant to give Cardone another chance. These things have received positive reviews on the forum, but the problem is you always take a chance with a rebuilt water pump in my experience.

Wow. I consider myself lucky. 5+ A1 Cardone water pumps with zero failures.
Sorry to hear.

 

[itwonder]

Wow. I consider myself lucky. 5+ A1 Cardone water pumps with zero failures.
Sorry to hear.

It's hard to say with things like this. Maybe I got the one bad one out of a large batch. Maybe Cardone has recently changed materials used or where the labor is performed. We are probably getting to the point where there are very few "first run" water pumps available for them to rebuild. So rebuilt rebuilds may be hitting the streets. Who knows? I do know there is an awful lot of labor in changing a water pump, so their lifetime warranty does not exactly take care of the problem. I'm going to check out whats available in NEW ones.

 

[SeanMc]

I think we are having the same problem. I have coolant dripping (when looking under the car) between the y-pipe and the oil pan. Also the car is cutting out when idling (coolant getting on the CPS).

 

[LiLGhettoSmurf]

I think we are having the same problem. I have coolant dripping (when looking under the car) between the y-pipe and the oil pan. Also the car is cutting out when idling (coolant getting on the CPS).

Same thing happened to me, ended up doing the front 60k and its all good now.