hubs97xj
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Fort Wayne, IN
In question here is my 97 XJ Sport. 4.0L, A/C, Auto yadda yadda. 130K on the clock, no internal work done. AFAIK, all bearings, pulleys, and pumps are original, except for the PS pump, which I changed 2ish years ago. I reused the original pulley, but I'm wondering, is it a good idea to replace the pulley as well. It appears that the pulley itself isn't true, or perhaps it's just the bearings in the pump. I don't want to buy parts I don't need to, but I also don't want to ruin good parts with cheap bad parts.
I've got the belt off, diagnosing a failing PS pump. In checking all the pulleys for play and drag, I notice everything spins freely, and quietly, except for the PS and water pumps. When spinning the water pump pulley, there is a slight noise. It's a bit muffled; audible, but nothing like the metallic screeching that others describe when the WP fails; it's not a metal on metal sound. Think squeegee over a hard, smooth, surface. It spins, albeit not as freely as anything else, which I would assume has something to do with all that fluid sitting on it, but I'm curious-
Is this a normal sound for a WP? Should it be silent, or should some noise be expected? On the 4th, we pulled the Tstat to replace a leaking gasket, and I did a drain/rinse/chemical flush/rinse/distilled water rinse on the cooling system, before filling with fresh coolant, distilled water, and WaterWetter.
I have no leaks, no overheating issues, no odd vibrations at speed, nothing out of the ordinary otherwise (in fact, it's running just a few degrees cooler than before- the old coolant looked like a mix of chocomilk and coolant, despite being changed yearly). I would expect some resistance or noise from the water pump, assuming it has some sort of seals internally, but this rubbery noise caught my attention.
Apologies for the long post, I just wanted to make sure the pertinent details are there so you don't have to spend half an hour asking questions to offer a simple answer. I've got to have this thing together tonight, and I'm honestly dreading having to go after the water pump as well as the ps pump. I hate to be ignorant on this kind of thing, but I don't have any buddies who are wrench turners, so the forums are my only decent source of info. I appreciate any insight here.
Thanks,
hub
edit: Now that it's cooled off a little more, I can get a grip on the pulley. It's got some side to side slop- not much, measures about 1/32nd or thereabouts. I can also hear a slight thunk when I move it side to side. This isn't a good thing, is it?
I've got the belt off, diagnosing a failing PS pump. In checking all the pulleys for play and drag, I notice everything spins freely, and quietly, except for the PS and water pumps. When spinning the water pump pulley, there is a slight noise. It's a bit muffled; audible, but nothing like the metallic screeching that others describe when the WP fails; it's not a metal on metal sound. Think squeegee over a hard, smooth, surface. It spins, albeit not as freely as anything else, which I would assume has something to do with all that fluid sitting on it, but I'm curious-
Is this a normal sound for a WP? Should it be silent, or should some noise be expected? On the 4th, we pulled the Tstat to replace a leaking gasket, and I did a drain/rinse/chemical flush/rinse/distilled water rinse on the cooling system, before filling with fresh coolant, distilled water, and WaterWetter.
I have no leaks, no overheating issues, no odd vibrations at speed, nothing out of the ordinary otherwise (in fact, it's running just a few degrees cooler than before- the old coolant looked like a mix of chocomilk and coolant, despite being changed yearly). I would expect some resistance or noise from the water pump, assuming it has some sort of seals internally, but this rubbery noise caught my attention.
Apologies for the long post, I just wanted to make sure the pertinent details are there so you don't have to spend half an hour asking questions to offer a simple answer. I've got to have this thing together tonight, and I'm honestly dreading having to go after the water pump as well as the ps pump. I hate to be ignorant on this kind of thing, but I don't have any buddies who are wrench turners, so the forums are my only decent source of info. I appreciate any insight here.
Thanks,
hub
edit: Now that it's cooled off a little more, I can get a grip on the pulley. It's got some side to side slop- not much, measures about 1/32nd or thereabouts. I can also hear a slight thunk when I move it side to side. This isn't a good thing, is it?
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