water pump failure

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George,

I too saw the warning signs on my DoG Caravan, but didn't make the
connection until a few minutes later when the belt broke. The Mitsubishi
3.0 litre engine has a waterpump setup that is pretty smart. Partly
because it's a V-6, the pump is driven by the _smooth side_ of the
timing belt, so that the pump can sieze up without taking out your valve
train immediately. The temperature guage looked a little higher than
usual, and if I'd have gotten out to sniff under the hood, I would have
heard / smelled the timing belt chafing against the water pump pulley.
Instead, I headed out onto the highway and went 10 minutes down the
road. Wham! I thought I'd hit a cat, but no such luck. The engine spun
very freely when I tried to restart. A quick call to the Dodge dealer
confirmed that I'd be needing a timing belt.

Thank God the Mitsubishi 3.0 litre isn't much of an interfrernce engine
! ! (the repair sheet that came with the belt says it is) If there was
any valve damage, it wasn't on a cylinder that hadn't been contributing
much in the past.

This engine is found in the Caravan, RAM 50, Mitsubishi Galant,
Diamonte, Montero, Sigma, Dodge Dynasty, Daytona, Spirit, Stealth,
Shadow, Chrysler LeBaron, New Yorker, Acclaim, Grand Voyager, Sundance,
and the Hyundai Sonata.

'Curly'

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Reliability centered maintenance. Perform maintenance at an interval that
makes the most economical sense based on failure data. The problem is that
we don't have all the information.

Good information on using the wrong coolant. Seems that was a
contributing factor to some of the failures.

I don't have a new Honda but what's Honda service manual (not dealership)
recommendation on the waterpump replacement interval. My 91 Civic manual
just calls for an inspection at 90K miles.

 

There's no recommended replacement interval on the water pump. The
inspection is for leakage out of the bleed hole and at 90K, with the timing
belt off, for its scheduled replacement, a check that the shaft turns
freely and the bearing feels OK.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

My first water pump on my 93 Civic failed at 147K, replaced then with
a Japanese-made high-flo model, and was on it's way out again at
220k.