I'm having bearing failures pretty often. I don't use the truck much (a few trips to the feed store, a few trips to the mountains a year). It's giving me a little rattling noise out of the front again, which I think is a flat ball bearing in the pump. Last time this happened, when I threw the old pump into my dead-parts pile, I saw two other pumps! I hadn't realized it was dying quite THAT often. I do have a "new" idler pulley - it predates the last pump failure, I'm pretty sure. I can guess that an imbalanced fan might wear pumps out, but I don't see any sign that that's the case. All the other bearings seem fine. Any ideas on what I should be looking for???

 

Hi Podfish and welcome to the forums!


I moved your post into a new thread.


What brand pumps are you using? Are you running just water or a mix and at what ratio?


Engine and year would help too.

 

I just get a cheap pump from Kragen or whoever's convenient. Same for antifreeze; the temperature range is maybe low 40s to low 90s so I haven't been really particular about the ratio of AF to water. The truck doesn't get much use - or much love either, sorry to say. As you might guess from the fact I don't remember water-pump changes I've done to it! I have other vehicles I work on much more often so I forget the Dodge's service times.
But it seems to me that even an ignored waterpump shouldn't die before 50-100K miles, or in under five years of mostly sitting under a tree. There's nothing obviously abusive going on - the other pulleys seem fine, the belt seems fine, the coolant's not rusty, it's not operated under stress or for lots of miles. So that's why I was curious about what could shorten the life so much.

 

We have a winner in my opinion

 

And a close second.

 

AFAIK the water pump's bearings are dry, they're not lubricated by the coolant. They're sealed. Since I'm in mild weather, the coolant can't freeze. Even if it was pure well water with a couple of tadpoles in it, the big risk would be corrosion/clogging or boiling at too low a temperature. I don't see evidence of that, plus it ain't pure well water - it's reasonably close to manufacturer's recommendation. So I don't see how the bearing life could be affected by that. Or by passage of time; bearings wear by use. So either Kragen is selling total junk pumps, or there's something I did wrong installing it that's putting things out of alignment, or there's some other source of mechanical stress like an imbalanced fan. I was hoping someone with this type of truck had experienced an issue like this and found the cause, or to find out whether or not it's a typical Dakota thing. It's been several years since the last pump but I don't recall having any issues with the job - I don't think there were any weird steps that could go wrong; no parts that were difficult to dismount/remount. Maybe a cheap pump really won't go 50K plus? It doesn't seem like a highly precision part to me.

 

Water pump bearings are sealed. I don't know anything about Kragen, but it is not very likely you got 3 bad water pumps in a row. There is probably something putting undue stress on the belt and/or water pump pulley. Maybe check the tensioner and the fan clutch, check all other pulleys for alignment and smooth operation. I don't know what year your truck is or what engine you have but on my 3.9 the original water pump lasted 142,000 miles. For what it may be worth here I now have about 28,000 miles and about 3 years on the Autozone Duralast pump I replaced it with and it is doing fine. It only cost about $60.00 but I would not call it a cheap pump. I don't think the pumps you bought were bad. It sounds like something else is causing the problem. If you have not done it yet maybe check the tensioner first. Then check the fan clutch.

Jimmy

 

in case anyone can confirm my thought it's the water pump bearing

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ejozpwqmfq...loudEngine.mp4

-- actually, I think it's NOT. Nice being home where I can do something, instead of posting from work by memory..
so anyway, I pulled the belts and started it. Pretty much the same noise as the video. Interesting noise, isn't it? I can't tell what it it...

 

About to log to lazy to research so just a note are you hammering your fan clutch onto the new wp??? like hammer and punch ?? any hammering at all? if it isnt threaded type ignore my input--

 

no, I tried to treat the clutch nice, using correct tools & not lying it flat. And yep, it's threaded. If you get a chance, take a listen to the video I just posted. When I removed the belt, I still heard sounds so now I think it's some other kind of rattle. Weird, though - although it was long ago I though I remembered this same sound being there before the other pump died (and not being there after a new pump). Plus, when I had it smogged, the mechanic also thought it was the WP. So it's confusing.