Shot Water

how to tell if my water pump is shot?

I have a 2001 Nissan Frontier the head gasket is shot[i think] checked thermostat and checked for clogs, flushed system, noticed bottom of radiator is cold but top is hot, is water pump shot?does not wiggle, or did i put thermostat in backwards? Steam poors out exhaust

I think you are right! Even if you warterpump is bad, it is likely that it isn’t the “whole problem”! When head gasket leaks, -it lets compression pressure leak into the water “jacket’ area. This forces water to flow out the overflow tube and be lost “overboard”… Compression is in excess of 100psi, – pressure cap generatlly “dumps” pressure at 12-16 psi. So it literally forces water out of engine onto ground!!

If it leaks bad enough that steam is coming out of exhaust, – your head gasket is leaking a whole lot! You may also notice that when you start engine up after it has set for a while – that it seems to hesitate at several places as it cranks, – or may even stop and have to try several times to get it to turn over and start. If so water is leaking back into the cylinder, (water doesn’t compress), – and you have to force enough water back out through the headgasket into the water jacket to even get it to (turn over &) start. If it is leaking into the oil, you will see gray “goop” on dipstick -( if you pull it out with engine cold)!

You can tell quickly if head gasket is leaking by taking off radiator cap, filling engine with water, – and starting engine.
If it “blows bubbles” contineueously, – compression is leaking into water area– the more bubbles it blows, – the worse it is.
Also if you increase speed of engine, bubbles will increase too. I leak real bad, it will just “shoot” water out of radiator!

Now here’s the bad news! Depending on how much you overheated it (driving time),- and how hot it got, – it could have warped the head, (even cracked the head), With overhead camshaft, this is a bad problem. If head is warped- (which happens to severely overheated engines), – you will have to have the head “baked” in oven, – to get it as close to streight as possible, then have it machined to get prefect surface. Or it may need replaced if it has cracks started (so good inspection is essential). Depending on how the inspection turns out, – the mechanic may reccomend replacing head all together. You may be able to pick up good used one at salvage yard, – however you want a gurantee that the head is good, and after inspections confirms quality, it will need to be ‘reworked”, – having valves ground and probably minor re-surface just to make sure it is prefect on mating surface to go back on the engine!

There is still one check you can do yet. Remove thermostat, and try running engine without it. This lets water circulate all the time. Thermostat is there to maintain a “minimum” termperature within the engine, – this keeps the engine from “sludging up” and wearing out faster because of the sludge (and dirt) – also acid that forms because of not evaporating contaminants out properly. Anyway water should flow right away, and you will see action in radiator, and engine should not overeat. In fact it will take a long time to get up near “normal” running temperature! Also you will not see water circulating, – if waterpump is bad! As for water pump, they rarely go bad internally, (exception is if impeller stops turning – which hapens only on “pressed” metal imepllers,- or plastic). If bearings go bad they will still pump to some extent, but be noisy, – if seals going out (which ruins bearings eventeually) you will see water leaking out “weep hole” which is located on bottom of waterpump housing, – where “shaft’ extension area of housing connects to the engine! If radiator pressureized (as when heated up normally), – water will drip down from that area, since it is usually hard to see where the weep hole is to begin with!

You can check thernmostat by putting it into a pan of boiling water (on stove),– it should actually open just before water starts “bubbling” – (near boiling point), – remove it (with pliers), and it should close agian fairly quickly, – (because of air cooling it).

This explination is long, but if you understand how it all works, you can get a better idea of how to check it out!

Note; My wife’s car started leaking on head gasket about two months ago, it has a temperature gauge, and we both keep eye on gauge all the time. At first it only got hot when driven over 20-25 miles (she is 10 miles from work, so this didn’t cause too much trouble),– then it finally got to where it was close to the “overheat” mark on gauge, – if she slowed down to about 35-40 mph, and the water had not been lost (it has a large overflow bottle), – it would finally cool down and pull water back into engine, – this is because the leak was still “small”. I removed the head and checked it, it appeared to be good (couldn’t find “streight edge” to check, because of being lost in recent move). Bought new headgasket kit, – put head back on, and it is just fine now, – cost for materials $35, plus gallon of anti-freeze for cooling system, and a bottle of waterpump lube and cooling system conditioner (this makes waterpump last longer and “captures” rust particles etc. so that they don’t circulate all the time with water! So I was out less than $50 plus a day’s labor (fringe benefit for being a mechanic for 50+ years)!

One Shot, One Kill (water jug): 6.5-284 Norma @ 500 yards

Aerobie 80R08 AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker …

De’Longhi EC155 15 BAR Pump Espresso and Cappuccino Maker $69.00 The DeLonghi Espresso Maker has a patented dual-function filter holder for use with ground espresso, this unique filter mixes air into the brewing process to produce a perfect crema. Distinguished by it’s caramel color, the crema is the essence of authentic espresso. The filter also accommodates E.S.E pods. This great Espresso machine offers a swivel jet frother that makes cappucccino, latte or an…

Bialetti Moka Express Stovetop Espresso Makers The world’s best selling coffee pot, the Bialetti Moka Express was invented in 1933 and remains virtually unchanged to this day. Simple to own and simple to operate, the Moka Express is a masterpiece of industrial design. Free CaffeSolo Moka Coffee with each purchase….

Chronicle, Vol. 1: The 20 Greatest Hits $5.38 Few bands of the 1960s retained as much a sense of the roots of rock and roll as did Creedence Clearwater Revival. Their music is rife with country, rockabilly, and R&B influences, a combination that produced several hit singles–most of which are present on this collection. These include “I Heard It through the Grapevine,” “Lodi,” “Up Around the B ,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” and of course “Bad Moo…

Music from the Motion Picture Purple Rain $3.60 Maybe this music by Prince & the Revolution will never quite sound as, well, revolutionary as it did in 1984 (and nothing else has ever sounded like the extraordinary cooing and fluttering of “When Doves Cry”), but it’s a pop landmark in Prince’s Artist-ic career. The hit movie was really just a big-screen showcase for Prince to perform these songs (some of them in tear-the-roof-off “live” ver…

The Outsiders $6.39 No Description Available.Genre: Popular MusicMedia Format: Compact DiskRating: Release Date: 25-AUG-2009…

Up The Creek $17.34 Studio: Allied Vaughn Release Date: 01/03/2012…

Walker, Texas Ranger – The First Season $18.66 An unofficial Chuck Norris fact: With apologies to Al Gore, global warming does not cause hurricanes. They are caused by the wind generated by Chuck Norris’ flurry of roundhouse kicks to the head. Which is why this seven-disc set will blow you away. After Norris’s movie career stalled, Walker: Texas Ranger revived his career and catapulted him to international icon status of Hasselhoff proportions…

I Shot an Arrow into the Air $1.99 …

SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB, SDHC, UHS-1 Flash Memory Card SDSDXPA-032G-X46,Black $84.89 UHS-I…