Water pump blew up

[Wayne M.]

Just replace it and quit worrying about it. They will reimburse you if you say it failed.

“I carry a spare water pump and belt under the back seat. Cheap insurance and you could actually change them on the side of the road if you had to.”

Can’t say that about almost ANY other vehicle on the road nowadays.

 

[DHull]

Not sure about the part number but check Amazon p/n AC Delco 252-920 Professional Water Pump Kit sells for $82.50

 

[sag2]

“I carry a spare water pump and belt under the back seat. Cheap insurance and you could actually change them on the side of the road if you had to.”

Can’t say that about almost ANY other vehicle on the road nowadays.

My students did a Duramax water pump last semester. It was a six hour job and we had to buy two special tools to complete it. The lower radiator hose was $310!
Now we know why the customer brought it to us. He was quoted over $1200, and we charged him $100 labor.

 

[RAMMIN_TIME]

Other than typical water pump failure signs, are these failure modes quick or are there signs of squealing etc.

 

[seafish]

Other than typical water pump failure signs, are these failure modes quick or are there signs of squealing etc.

The answer is to you question is "Yes"..LOL.

There MAY be typical failure signs that you can catch (like coolant dripping from the weep hole)...
but in the current case of the recalled WP, it seems that they fail catastrophically, at least anecdotally.

 

[RAMMIN_TIME]

The answer is to you question is "Yes"..LOL.

There MAY be typical failure signs that you can catch (like coolant dripping from the weep hole)...
but in the current case of the recalled WP, it seems that they fail catastrophically, at least anecdotally.

Thanks, that’s what I figured. May just bite the bullet and get one from Geno’s.

 

[GSykes]

Ordered one from Geno's this morning, a few filters as well. Was told the post recall Cummins WPs are back ordered, eleven days out. Informed them that was fine, ship my order when it's complete. Now I just wait.

 

[Newsa]

I bought the AC-/Delco. But I'll just keep it as a spare. I didn’t want to get caught 1500 miles from home and be told there's a month backotder on pumps.

I will just keep AC/Delco as a spare and wait for the new/improved mopar one.

 

[tp0d]

Had my pump replaced last week, (at my local shop) Was drippin coolant slowly from the shaft, and would make a growling noise when cold. My selling dealer said they wouldnt have the 'recall' part for a month or two.. Looks like I gotta track down how to submit invoices to Ram. I kept the old pump if they need it.. No vent hole. Bought pump at NAPA, was plastic impeller (factory is plastic)

My 2010 6.7 would eat pumps every 60k-ish.. Tho, I do a lot of start/stops of the engine with my work. I`m at 56k on my 16

-j

 

[Randy_F]

I bought the AC-/Delco. But I'll just keep it as a spare. I didn’t want to get caught 1500 miles from home and be told there's a month backotder on pumps.

I will just keep AC/Delco as a spare and wait for the new/improved mopar one.

What's your opinion on the quality/build of the Delco?

 

[RAMMIN_TIME]

Had my pump replaced last week, (at my local shop) Was drippin coolant slowly from the shaft, and would make a growling noise when cold. My selling dealer said they wouldnt have the 'recall' part for a month or two.. Looks like I gotta track down how to submit invoices to Ram. I kept the old pump if they need it.. No vent hole. Bought pump at NAPA, was plastic impeller (factory is plastic)

My 2010 6.7 would eat pumps every 60k-ish.. Tho, I do a lot of start/stops of the engine with my work. I`m at 56k on my 16

-j

That’s what I’m afraid of. Been hearing noises when it’s cold, really low temps a few weeks ago when I first noticed it. Mine is a 14 just hit 70k. Not sure if it’s a tensioner, pulley, or pump. Plan on checking this weekend, not liking sounds of it.

 

[rashwor]

My '05 had a catastrophic failure last month of the water pump. To be honest, the catastrophic failure was my fault as I did not check regularly for leaks and seaps. I had some unusual noises, but again, been really busy and didn't check them out until failure.

The pump came apart and run the belt off on the way to work one morning. Limped it back home and found the pump with slack in the shaft that evening. Ordered a new pump, tensioner assembly, and belt from local Cummins dealer. Got the correct parts two days later. I took an afternoon off work and 3 hours later, it was all back together and running. Next time, I think I can do it in about 1 hour. And I could do it on the side of the road if I had to. It wouldn't be any fun, but I could do it.

 

[Mikie12]

Can you briefly describe the procedure? Thanks

 

[dannonebr]

On my 2003 3500 SRW QC 4x4, my first water pump started leaking at 98K in 2015. The dealer replaced it with a mopar/cummins unit. A little over two years later the new one failed with about 10k on it. I was driving out in the boonies when it failed and just happened to make it to a nearby rest area near Trinidad Colorado on a 4th of July weekend. I tried calling someone, everyone was gone for the holiday. A nice Hispanic man who worked there offered to go to town to get one over his lunch break! I gave him the cash and he came back with a new one and antifreeze. I changed it in the parking lot at the rest area and it took me about 90 minutes including waiting for the pump to arrive. It was easy to change, I could do it again in 30 minutes.


While the newer pump should have lasted longer, this is my first Cummins pump I must credit Cummins for designing it to be easy to change! All you need is a 1/2" long handled ratchet or a short breaker bar for the belt tensioner, I think a 12mm or 14mm socket and short extension to get the pump off and on and spit to hold the gasket onto the new pump when re-installing. Funniest thing were the people who walked by while I was working on it, they couldn't believe someone could do that. I haven't changed a water pump on a vehicle for some time, and this was my first on the road breakdown of any Dodge truck that I've owned since 1994. I just happened to have a small set of tools, I usually carry my big set but I figured "I've never had a problem before"... so I left my tool boxes at home for that 1600 mile trip.

Now I don't leave home without a new water pump, belt, anti-freeze, a 24 pack of bottled drinking water, tools and most importantly a good quantity of CASH on longer trips.

 

[Newsa]

On my 2003 3500 SRW QC 4x4, my first water pump started leaking at 98K in 2015. The dealer replaced it with a mopar/cummins unit. A little over two years later the new one failed with about 10k on it. I was driving out in the boonies when it failed and just happened to make it to a nearby rest area near Trinidad Colorado on a 4th of July weekend. I tried calling someone, everyone was gone for the holiday. A nice Hispanic man who worked there offered to go to town to get one over his lunch break! I gave him the cash and he came back with a new one and antifreeze. I changed it in the parking lot at the rest area and it took me about 90 minutes including waiting for the pump to arrive. It was easy to change, I could do it again in 30 minutes.


While the newer pump should have lasted longer, this is my first Cummins pump I must credit Cummins for designing it to be easy to change! All you need is a 1/2" long handled ratchet or a short breaker bar for the belt tensioner, I think a 12mm or 14mm socket and short extension to get the pump off and on and spit to hold the gasket onto the new pump when re-installing. Funniest thing were the people who walked by while I was working on it, they couldn't believe someone could do that. I haven't changed a water pump on a vehicle for some time, and this was my first on the road breakdown of any Dodge truck that I've owned since 1994. I just happened to have a small set of tools, I usually carry my big set but I figured "I've never had a problem before"... so I left my tool boxes at home for that 1600 mile trip.

Now I don't leave home without a new water pump, belt, anti-freeze, a 24 pack of bottled drinking water, tools and most importantly a good quantity of CASH on longer trips.

So, you had enough room without removing the fan?

 

[dannonebr]

It was a tight squeeze, on my 2003 cummins I did not have to remove the fan. I stood on the bumper to change it and rotated the fan to the right position in between the blades. I used a combination wrench with a cheater to loosen the bolts and a short 3/8" drive socket extension or no extension. I loosened the belt tensioner from below under the engine. I don't know how the 2013's are configured for pump replacement.

 

[photowrite]

I carry a spare water pump and belt under the back seat. Cheap insurance and you could actually change them on the side of the road if you had to.

I like the idea of carrying a spare pump.

 

[EDankievitch]

I really find it strange that our water pumps really started failing after Cummins switched from a gear driven power steering pump to a belt driven one.
The water pump in my 89 lasted well over 250,000 miles and was still good when I did the head gasket. The one on my 2002 was still good at 69,000 miles when the dealer wrecked the engine trying to fix the Killer dowel pin gear box gasket replacement under warranty. My 05 would eat water pumps at roughly 35-45k miles. It did not matter who's pump I installed they all failed around the same mileage. I really wonder if the extra load of the power steering pump is causing the bearings to fail. What else could it be? I hope that they figure it out and get it right this time.

 

[rashwor]

Short run down on what I did for my '05. I figure the 6.7s may be a little hard to access. I did not remove the fan. I just rotated it around and pushed against the plastic blades as necessary to get the job done.
1. Tie airbox lid back out of way.
2. Remove air box, one nut up top and pull to remove.
3. Clear access to water pump for removal. Remove two bolts with either a 9mm or 10mm socket. They were very tight. Beat on old pump pulley to break the pump a loose from the block and pull out.
4. Install new pump with new gasket and tighten bolts.
5. While there, remove Tensioner assembly. Again, the bolt for this is very, very tight.
6. Replace Tensioner with new tensioner assembly. The old one had been on there for about 100k, so cheap insurance since I was there anyway.
7. Install new belt. The old belt ran off when the water pump failed and I did not want to depend on it since I had run it off. Also, it had been on there about 100k so due for maintenance change anyway. This was the hardest part of the job for me and took the longest time. I had the diagram, but it still took a while.
8. Fill with new coolant. It had been two years since my coolant was last changed, so it was time to change it anyway and I had been putting it off.
9. Drive to operating temperature and check and fill coolant as necessary. Recheck a couple of times over the next few days to make sure coolant level is full.

If you have questions, I have a thread over in the 5.9 Engine and Transmission forum.

 

[Learjet]

here is a great video on how to make room and change the pump

https://youtu.be/UUTuF4c0MJE