Ok, So I have a 92 loyale. I replaced the water pump at 123000 miles, last night driving home the pump explodes (I can find the bearings on top of the engine) and leaves me stranded. My odometer now reads 159000 so the WP has not been on very long.

 

A few months ago a somebody, I can't remember who, looked under my hood and made some comment about my fan clutch on the WP being bad. Could this have anything to the bearings going out on the water pump? And how do you check to see if the fan clutch is bad?

Unless the fan went Out to Hitting something and make that Damage, otherwise I Do not Believe the Fan Clutch has done that to the Water Pump.

I have Locked my EA82 Subie`s Fan Clutch since 1993, to Gain some coolness, (it is Nessesary here at the Tropics) and I had no problems with that so Far...

I Suggest to Check Carefully all the System...

What made them make this comment? Was it a noise comming from the fan, or was it wobbling?

When the car is cool the fan should be easy to spin, when its hot it should be very hard to turn, Ive seen some that are hard to turn at first when cold, but losen up after driving. There should be little play front to back (no wobble)The idea is they only engage fully when the engine is hot and really needs the fans support. It reduces unnessisary engine load.

Maybe youre belt was tight like a guitar string, or the water pump was like many other crappy aftermarket auto parts out there.

I have had a fan clutch die suddenly and take out the water pump, but that was a pretty oddball situation.

 

The fan clutch is filled with a silicon fluid, which also lubricates the bearings that allow the fan to spin slower than the water pump.

When mine failed, it had leaked out the silicon fluid, and the bearings seized while the engine was turning a little over 6k.

The comment about the fan was made when my engine was cool. I have a slow drain on the battarie so I installed a kill switch under the hood I have to flip when I Park over night. As I was fliping the switch to turn on the car my friend looked at the fan. The fan does not wable, have play in the bearings, or make noise it is just always on.

 

The day the WP went I suspected something was up because the car seamed to be steaming more than normal when cold, but I atributed that to the unseasonally cold weather we were having in VA at the time. I think it was coolent leaking out the the pump now. I was alost home and I hear a crazy noise coming out of the engine so I pull over turn off the car and see the wp pully is loose alowing the fan blades to hit other things under the hood.

 

The fan is not easy to spin when cool, and I have not checked when the engine is warm. It has been that way since I purchased the car at 123k so I didn't think anything of it. Once I get the car back together I'll look at it more, I'm doing T-belts, engine seals, and I have to replace a CVJ boot too and the parts are on order.

This sounds alot like a typical over tightened belt. Belts fo wierd things in extreeme cold and may have made things worse. V belts are differnt from flat belts in thier requirements.

 

 

nipper

The fan does not wable, have play in the bearings, or make noise it is just always on.

 

This doesn't seem like it woudl be a problem in of itself, because until the 70's or so, fans were solidly bolted to the water pump without any clutch at all.

Than it sound like most likely it was an overtightned belt that caused the WP to fail.