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So I had to replace the water pump

736 views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Uniblurb 
#1 ·
Saturday night there was a very audible noise randomly coming from the engine bay of my wifes 97 4.0 GC . I grab a flashlight pop the hood and watch and listen. Sounded like a pulley but which one. Kept watching for a bit then I finally seen it. The pulley on the water pump would kick to the side a bit make the tapping noise then straighten back up. So I think to myself...great...there goes some of my Sunday.

So I get up Sunday and head outside to see if anythings loose...just my luck...of course not. Dig a little bit further by removing the fan and shroud then belt and finally the pulley comes off and there it is. The bearing on the water pump is going. You could wiggle it freely and then see where the pulley had been touching the housing and making the lovely noise.

So I continue to remove the PS pump bracket then on to the water pump but no sign of coolant leaking...oh yeah...I drained the coolant before removing the pump...then once the pump is off...hey!!! theres a little coolant residue from the weep hole. So evidently it was starting to fail but not enough to show signs of coolant loss.

Put it all back together so the wife can have her Jeep for work Monday. Just wanted to share how I lost my one and only off day to yet another Jeep repair...God I love Jeeps...some times I wonder why I couldnt have been a Ford or Chevy kind of guy.
 
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#2 ·
One of the times I replaced mine, the thing was so wobbly I just couldn't see how it wasn't leaking. Even though the bearing/bushing wasn't worth a crap{ 6 months} it must've been one heck of a seal.
 
#4 ·
At least her ZJ was nice enough to give you some advance warning the water pump was going out and taking up half your Sun where you could work on it where you want doesn't sound like that much of an inconvenience to me.

I remember driving my wife's 93 4.0 XJ on the freeway when w/o warning the temp quickly skyrocketed and quickly got off the next exit as the lights started dimming. Ended up in the parking lot of Tequila Mama's at 11pm on a Sat night with steam rolling out of the engine compartment. The bearing/water pump had come apart shredding the belt and boy did the drunks think the steam was neat!

Luckily my daughter was following us to give us a ride home. The next day (Sun) I replaced the pump/belt where it sat when all of the sudden a huge snowstorm rolled in with high winds. Couldn't stop and had to tie the hood down on the latch so the winds wouldn't bring it down on me. Couldn't hardly find the right tool in my toolbox because of the sudden heavy snow. Now that's an inconvenience and finally got it fixed. The whole time while working on it my wife was sleeping in my cozy 96 ZJ with the heater on. ;)
 
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