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Coolant Leak

Intuit

3000 Post Club
Messages
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2,168
Location
South West Ohio
#21
I beg to differ that any reputable brand will do with water pumps..Go OE or go home....Time and time again I have used them at the will of the customer Oreilly..Advanced.....AutoZone
.none of that reman crap either.Each time id say about or alittle over a year they started to leak again. Some pumps are easy to do but others are a PIA....So id get an OE pump and call it a day. I had gone through 3 aftermarket new pumps on my SSEI Bonneville and after the third I got a GM water pump and that thing went until I sold the vehicle and is still kicking around with my buddy now. Food for thought.
My experiences with aftermarket parts in general have been similar. The only retailer that consistently gave me good results was CarQuest, and they are now gone. Their old stock was taken over by Advance, their stores shutdown.

Different model/year vehicle, the OEM water pump went approximately 110k. It had an interesting design in that, the propeller would slap a loose back plate, making a loud clack, clack, clack sound to indicate bearing wear; a built-in warning system. It never leaked. So I slapped an AutoZrap part on. I got rid of that in less than 10k and installed a CarQuest part, which was still going strong when sold it at over 327k. That's 3 times longer than OEM and well, nearly 33 times longer than AutoCrap. Spark plug wires? Worse mistake to replace those. I eventually went back to Motorcraft. Ball joints? Similar story. Tie-rod ends? Similar story. Window crank motors? Similar story. (and yes the original regulators and tracks were fine) Part after part it wasn't at all uncommon that the aftermarket, would last a fraction of the time that the OEM did.

The "new" "Motorcraft" alternator that I paid a pretty penny for from an independent Napa dealer burnt itself to a crisp in less than a year. It was under warranty. Went to take it back and it turns out it wasn't new but rebuilt and despite the "Motorcraft" stamping on the casing, wasn't actually Motorcraft. It was completely rebuilt by Raybestos but they reused the Motorcraft stamped casing. The computer listing, the documentation, the price, the receipt gave no indication that isn't wasn't "Motorcraft" when I bought it. This Napa dealer didn't stock Raybestos parts anymore (probably for quality concerns) and would have to wait two weeks for them to ship the crap back for exchange. I wanted a refund. Nope, you gotta wait.

So instead, I left with the old part and "shipped" myself on over to the nearest CarQuest and paid another pretty penny for a quality rebuilt one. Compared the Napa-Raybestos to the CarQuest and oh my, the differences were immediately obvious. The CarQuest was much heavier with a much beefier core yet, they were both supposedly the same output. Week or two later I went back to the Napa, let him know I couldn't wait and got a different part. Store manager reconsidered and issued a full refund on the spot without further hassle.

Anyway, if you buy aftermarket, at the very least, compare your original to the replacement part and pay fine, fine attention to fine, fine detail. My own experience suggests that just because it's "Motorcraft" doesn't mean that it wasn't a "Originally Motorcraft but completely rebuilt by crappy third party" part.

Note, OEM rubber parts may be the exception, in terms of a preference for purchase. Any OEM fuel filler neck hose I bought, would show dry-rot in a matter of months; leak much less than 18 months.
 


OP
syasar
Messages
78
Likes
6
Thread Starter #23
Alright just got the car back, the dealership done everything I have ask them to do but I keep having to pick on details.
They changed the water pump, gave me a receipt when I ask them. Dumb me I didn’t check the coolant level before I left the dealership and it’s below the min line when I got home. And it was bubbling when I checked.

Got in touch with the sale guys, had him speak to mechanic how said I should drive the car for a day or two and have the coolant circulate then come back to have it top off. I told him I was uncomfortable with how little there was in there. Brought it back right away.

On the way there I noticed the car was doing something weird when idling, when pushing in the cultch the car would kinda of bounce a bit. And then I would let it go it would rev up a bit and bounce down and it would be then steady. I never notice that before, like revving up when i let go of the cultch is normal I think, but the bouncing seemed really odd and new to me.

The car was being worked at the trusted shop of the dealerships. He was going to get one of the drivers to take the car but an soon as he saw the idle and coolant, I decided to take it himself. Brought it back, he said he watch them top it up to max and fell down again once he got back. Now I’m back at home and it at min.
I suppose there air in the system and that’s why it keep dropping or the coolant is leaking all over the place and i havnt noticed (it raining out). Nevertheless I going to have them top it off in couple of days.

Having the dealerships outside shop working on the car isn’t really ideal but what service is done is guaranteed atleast by the dealership.

So is all normal or am I being screwed over here, and what do guys think about the idling is normal at all, the mechanic to my salesmen it’s normal and turboed car do that. It’s still a little odd to when I see it.


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OP
syasar
Messages
78
Likes
6
Thread Starter #25
did you try bleeding air out yourself? there's a bleed screw right next to the upper radiator hose on the radiator.
No I havnt i don’t really know much about the car yet, it still very new to me. Is it this one if so what do I do with it, I’m going to check the manual to see if there are any guidelines.




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koozy

3000 Post Club
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Los Angeles, CA, USA
#26
No, that's for the AC.

I don't have a photo of the OE radiator, but to the far left is a brass bleed screw on my Mishi radiator. The OE will be black/plastic in the same location, you can twist with your fingers. Counter clock to loosen. Just loosen it until coolant comes out and let it flow for a few seconds. Make sure coolant is topped of.



 


OP
syasar
Messages
78
Likes
6
Thread Starter #27
No, that's for the AC.

I don't have a photo of the OE radiator, but to the far left is a brass bleed screw on my Mishi radiator. The OE will be black/plastic in the same location, you can twist with your fingers. Counter clock to loosen. Just loosen it until coolant comes out. Make sure coolant is topped of.

O right I’m a idiot that’s is one of ac charge ports. I look into it soon, I might have them bleed the air if the coolant goes any lower. I don’t even think i should be paying for the bottle of coolant tbh. I try to bleed it as soon as I can get coolant.


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XuperXero

Active member
Messages
587
Likes
123
Location
Wuxi
#29
Water pump fails immediately if the engine overheated. I know, I've overheated twice, second head gasket and second water pump. Leaks exactly like the pictures.

Bad design IMO.
 


Messages
50
Likes
6
Location
Decatur
#30
Water pump fails immediately if the engine overheated. I know, I've overheated twice, second head gasket and second water pump. Leaks exactly like the pictures.

Bad design IMO.
I wanna say to pull the head to do the gasket, you first need to remove the camshafts? If so, THAT's a bad design.
 




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