You guys here who had to replace your water pump, how long did the original one last? I had to replace my fan clutch 6 months ago and have heard the fan clutch and water pump both last about the same amount of time and it is good to replace both at the same time. I have a 2001 with the 3.9 V6 and 132,800 miles on my Dakota now. I will replace my water pump now if it is close to the time it will fail anyway.

And which water pump is best? I saw that Napa, Autozone Duralast and Advance are all the same price online, $66.00. Which one is the best or are they all the same? I can't tell much difference by the pictures online. I have a $20.00 store credit at Autozone from my rewards card, so I could save a little on the Duralast pump but I want a good quality pump.

Thanks.

Jimmy

 

Mine lasted ~115k. I had to have it replaced for me though because I was at school and didn't have access to somewhere to work on it(it was mid january and 0 degrees outside) or enough tools. But I believe the shop they did it, got the pump from Napa. I was ok with that though because I use a lot of parts from Napa and they seem to do ok.

 

Thanks. Did you ever have the coolant flushed before that? I had mine done at 60,000 miles with a power flush machine at a tire store. Then at about 75,000 miles I hit a small deer and had to get a new radiator and the body shop refilled with new coolant, then I got hit in the front end at 129,000 miles and got another new radiator and another fill of new coolant. I always heard and believed if you flush the coolant every couple of years the water pump lasts a lot longer.

But I also read online that if you replace the fan clutch you should also do the water pump at the same time because they both have about the same life expectancy. I had to replace my fan clutch about 6 months ago. Now that summer is here, and it is really hot here in Florida right now, this is the hottest summer I can remember here, my fan clutch is kicking in a lot more often and staying on for longer periods of time. It does fine in the morning or on the interstate but the fan clutch is really annoying on short trips around town during the day. I was reading about it online when I saw articles about changing the water pump when you do the fan clutch.

If it's time, I will replace the water pump. I would rather do it now than have it quit and leave me stranded some where. My truck has a lot of new parts and I figure the alternator or the water pump would be next to replace.

The Napa pump looks to be a better part, judging by the pics on their web site. I could use my store credit at Autozone to get new hoses and buy the new pump at Napa, I would still be saving 20 bucks, plus I would get another credit on my Autozone rewards card, and plus they sent me a coupon to get a second credit for free. When you make five $20.00 purchases in a 6 month period and use your rewards card, Autozone gives you a free $20.00 store credit/gift card.

Thanks for the help.

Jimmy

 

After a lot more reading online tonight, I think I will just leave well enough alone. Some water pumps go bad at 75 or 80,000 miles and some last for 150,000 and some last longer than that. My coolant has been changed often enough that the water pump should still be in great shape. A lot of the early water pump failures I read about were caused by not flushing the coolant on schedule. Either that or the truck had Dexcool. If my water pump starts to fail, it will make noise and I will notice leaks before it fails for good. I may replace it at 150,000 miles but I think for now it should still be OK. I have none of the obvious signs of water pump failure right now, anyway.

Thanks.

Jimmy

 

Mine went at 83,000 coolant was still green and good looking anyway I got mine at autozone its a duralast with a lifetime warranty for 68.99 I believe ill look at my receipts tom and tell you for sure. I've really good luck with autozone parts I've had a rewards card there for 2 years now and really comes in handy saved a lot of money. Plus the guys that work there always help me out and are really knowledgeable. Napa seems to always rip me off and advanced has the dumbest workers they have no idea what they are doing so autozone is the best for me.

 

i know i might be different from all you second fen guys, but mine has lasted almost 200k with regular flush and fill. it'll be 200k by the end of the week.

 

I think it all depends on how hard your truck works ours lasted up to 160,000 on our 95 grand cherokee. I've saw some go at 50,000

 

100k on mine.

 

I agree 100%. I don't tow anything with my truck and it has never been off road, it's just a daily driver 2 wheel drive. Whether I wanted it or not, the coolant has been changed 3 times in 92,000 miles and the radiator has been replaced twice. Coolant is still fresh and green.

I am going to leave well enough alone. There will be obvious noises, play in the pump shaft and leaks that will let me know if the water pump has problems. It might go another 40 or 50,000 miles or it might quit working next week. Until it does I will leave it alone. Truck runs great as it is.

However, I got really fed up with the Autozone fan clutch I put on my truck 6 months ago. Now that it is blistering hot here, probably 130 degrees on the blacktop or asphalt road surfaces, that fan clutch locked up every time I stopped for a red light or had to stop in traffic for more than 30 seconds. And it would take forever to loosen back up again, like I had to drive at least a mile with me nailing the throttle before it would settle back down and quit howling like a banshee. A new fan clutch is $140.00 at the Dodge dealer here, they said they could discount it to $114.00, but that is too much money right now. I got a fan clutch off a truck at the junk yard today for 30 bucks. The donor truck was hit really hard in the driver's side, somebody got hurt in it pretty bad. But the junk yard guy said donor truck was running when it came in and it had maybe 70 or 80,000 miles on it. So I may get another 40 or 50,000 miles out of the new-used fan clutch. If it lasts 6 months I got my money's worth out of it. I cleaned it up and installed it tonight, on the test drive it ran fine and did not make one bit of noise. The real tests will be tomorrow morning when I leave for work and again when I leave work and head for home.

I would say if you need a fan clutch, either bite the bullet and get one at the dealer or get a used factory one from a junk yard or online. I paid $50.00 for the Autozone one and it was fine in cool weather, but this summer it was just a royal pain to put up with. I might try to ebay the Autozone clutch or see if I can get a store credit for it.

Thanks for all the help here.

Jimmy

 

120K and 6 years for mine. when it went out it spit the needle bearings out all over the ground. fan clutch still ok at about 150k

our water pump housings are aluminum, so i bought a "new" one instead of a "rebuilt". other than that, i think they're all the same.