Hello Everybody:

Hey i have a 99 Durango SLT 4x4 & recently i took a vacation and a day or so after coming back from vacation discovered I had a coolant leak. I thought I pinpointed it to the water pump so I crawled went ahead & replaced it. (however thanks to u guys I went out to rent the tool to remove the fan clutch Thanks !!) Ok but while replacing it i ended up puncturing the radiator (yea I'm lucky like that) So I ended just replacing that along with the lower radiator hose. Ok after struggling to line up the transmission cooler lines & leaking all the fluid out finally got the truck back on the road. Now here's the question. Temp is ok, no coolant leaks but I but I got a minor squealing noise once I start the truck up & when turning i got a hesitation/sputter? & the RPMS spike up to around 3 then back down. Almost like shifting gears? Does anybody know what I should be looking for that's causing this? transmission issue? power steering pump issue. someone help a DIY-er out.

thanks & sorry I'm longwinded

 

is the hesitation consistent when you are driving or is it for a mile or two after starting up?

 

Not so much when driving, but when going into a good sharp left turn, i haven't noticed so much on right turns. Forgot to mention I replaced the drive-belt prior water pump. & this is the 5.2 forgot to mention that as well

 

The power steering pump brg. may be bad or the belt might just me loose. Drive it for 15 min. (shut it off) and fill (touch) the belt if it is very hot then the brgs. or pump may be bad. If the pump checks out then my guess would be with the trans.

 

You could have gottin a little fluid on the belt. Drive her carefully and watch for a bad bearing or such. It could be a water pump bearing is to tight or incorrectly installed. Did you buy a re-manufactured (rebuilt) or a brand new water pump?

 

@ Dolittle After 15 mins belt isn't hot & Hydrashocker I have no idea how to determine if the waterpump is too tight. I didn't torque it to the point where I need 6 people to help me get it off but if a bearing goes bad I'm thinking that squealing type sound that's originating in that area is a sign right? It doesn't last long maybe 10 mins after startup. But my sharp left turns are getting worse it feels like I'm shifting gears & i watch the RPMS shoot from 2-3 then back down. But I did find why checking this out that my power steering fluild was low & i refilled it but still having the same turning problem. If replace the p/s pump will that resolve the whole bearing issue?

& it was a remann waterpump w/press on pulley

 

The Fan belt tensioner maybe frozen and causing the sound. Remove the fan belt and see if the noise is gone.

 

Don't start throwing money at it until you know what is bad.
Check your trans fluid level. Do what master tech asked.
If it happen when turning it may be just your motor mounts.
Check for any codes. Trouble shooting a problem is very hard on the internet
PS. Make sure you have the correct drive belt.

 

What I am talking about is people will install a bearing on a rebuilt water pump incorrectly and either compress the bearing to much or not seat them correctly. If they over compressed the bearing the race of the bearing rubs on the bearings and creates the sound you are talking about. I have seen this many times on rebuilt water pumps as the remanufacturing company uses old casts that are out of round or other issues.

Just sayin, if this is what you replaced and now the sound as well as a description of what can happen, well that's just my 2 cents!

 

thanks master tech for the info (however I have no idea how to perform the action you indicated unless your saying remove the belt & start the engine)
Dolittle....the transfluid is good that was the 1st thing I checked & refilled in the beginning.
Hydrashocker ...i had to order the watermpump b/c they didn't have the press on pulley so I didn't do any bearing install (man i don't wanna have to uninstall this pump it was a pain to get to)

thanks guys for the patience (i'm not a guru I just happen to like troubleshooting/fixing & breaking things)