Ok me again Those of you have probably seem my 98 suburban coolant in exhaust problems This came to mind 2-3 months ago I noticed a faint WHRRRRING from the engine bay went up and down with RPMS- at that time no leak-and I didn't "notice" any coolant loss or cooling problems Via my 65 year old ears-seemed to be from the front of the engine bay on the passengers side seemed like MAYBE the alternator- but it was and still is working fine I have since-3 -4 days ago- blown a hole a radiator hose overheated it-lost 1.5 gallons of coolant and have a coolant leak sending LOTS of coolant into the exhaust gas which is much less since adding 3 different types of BARS STOP VARIOUS COOLANT LEAKS Can a water pump make that noise-and fail- the little fan blade impeller-is directly driven off the pulley-guessing it is welded to the shaft is there anyway any likelihood the impeller can actual separate from its drive shaft-and just "not turn" but make a whirring sound? How is it attached to the shaft-and do they every "break" there?? Thanks Charlie PS Never mind-power steering fluid is low-so probably that-funny my ears don't serve me very well-would have guessed the noise was from the other side we'll see
I'm not sure how GM does it, but Japanese impellers I've seen appeared to be press-fitted onto the shaft---not welded. In my sister's Dodge Omni, the impeller did exactly what you speculated---came loose and slipped on the shaft to the extent the car overheated, even though the pump appeared externally OK (no leak, no wobble, etc.).
As a lifelong GM man, the only vehicle I've ever owned that wasn't GM is the FEH. (Not counting the 81 AMC because that had a Pontiac Iron Duke 151 in it). I've never seen a GM water pump fail like you propose, although I guess it is possible. The only water pump failures I've ever experienced were seal failures at the shaft, and once the seal fails, the bearing gets flooded with coolant and either leaks like hell, or if driven long enough, the bearing fails. I would say that the whirring sound you heard was probably not the water pump failing, as in 3 months time you should have seen some indication of temperature problems before your big failure. Small block 350 water pumps are DIRT cheap. So cheap, the auto parts stores usually don't charge a core on them. I just checked online and Advance Auto has them for $40. Its so cheap, you might as well just replace it if it is in question, even though you're looking to replace the truck.
08 Well it wasn't the power steering fluid being low-corrected that-whrrrr still the same Hey I actually have a GENUINE GM water pump-rebuilt-not quite sure why-maybe the intake manifold leak 20 months ago- figured to fix that and replace AUTO ZONE pump which I installed maybe 2009 in any case still in box heck I had a new actual upper radiator hose IN MY TRUCK-under back seat-bought years ago-2009 maybe-when I replaced the radiator planned to replace hose-but it felt soooo good pliable -I figured to wait-yeah not too bright- Redy-maybe I will get lucky-I'm going to carefully monitor miles versus water added to reservoir-time would be better maybe I'll monitor time also I marked the reservoir-dead cold am- have a welches grape juice bottle with exactly 1000 mls-see how long how far I get on 1000 mls If I get 1 hour 30 miles-I'm ok with that Oil still clean-surprising all the"extra" water doesn't find its way past rings contaminate oil-but not yet? Thanks all Charlie PS Still checking craigs list-several 200,000 mile 98 99 $2000 "runs good" a 2004 2005 150,000-200,000 miles $5500 but not sure I want a 5.3 already have a 5.7 parts car-
Thanks Yes one good thing oil nice and clean-just oil-not that horrible milky oil water gunk that means doom so far the leak sealing stuff is holding we'll see
