455 Olds broken water pump impeller
#1
455 Olds broken water pump impeller
Hi everyone, I have a question. The water pump on my 455 went, and it broke 3 of the 6 fins off the impeller. They went inside the engines water passages, and I cant get them out. Will they get lodged into a passage and cause me overheating issues, or worse...
#2
Ugh, normally I would say get them out. However, I would not want to tear down a perfectly good engine unless I had no choice. Who knows where they could be? I would suggest installing a real temp gauge (assuming you don’t already have one) and roll the dice. Only other option is to pop out a couple freeze plugs and hope to get lucky.
#5
OK, how the heck do you break the vanes off the impeller? The only ways I can think of (and even these are a stretch) are the pump was turned when there was ice in the cooling jacket, or they were so badly rusted that they fell off. Is this a factory cast iron impeller or an aftermarket stamped steel one?
#6
I think it was an aftermarket, Joe. Was on the car when I bought it. I was driving down the highway, and the temp started to get erratic. The fan wobbled, and the shaft broke. Had to have the car towed 30 miles home. Just took the pump off and noticed the impeller is missing 3 of the 6 vanes, which I know are inside the water passages
#8
#10
I think you'd be better off with a new clutch fan. If it really is out of shape that might account for the broken impeller blades, on the other hand a bad water pump could well make the fan run out of true.
Roger.
Roger.
#11
Is there a chance the pieces are in the Radiator instead of the engine?.
Many years ago I had a 302 Ford that would overheat for no apparent reason. I replaced and inspected everything relating to the cooling system (Including replacing head gaskets). One of the first things I replaced was the water pump and a couple of the impellers were rusted off. I always suspected that they were laying in the bottom of one of the water passages and would move around every once in a while and restrict flow.
Many years ago I had a 302 Ford that would overheat for no apparent reason. I replaced and inspected everything relating to the cooling system (Including replacing head gaskets). One of the first things I replaced was the water pump and a couple of the impellers were rusted off. I always suspected that they were laying in the bottom of one of the water passages and would move around every once in a while and restrict flow.
#13
Yeah, that's the fundamental problem. The OP is lucky. I had a similar failure on a 454 in a truck, and the shaft went forward, so the fan took out the radiator.
If the impeller is steel, a magnet on a string comes to mind. If they're stainless, you're kind of screwed.
By the way, this photo has just made me swear to only use pumps with cast impellers from now on!
#14
Considering their isn't much corrosion, it would take some force to snap 3 of the 6 stamped impellers.
The vanes are form bent and much too big to get through any water passages IMO,
I would think along the same lines as Sampson, the pieces are probably in the radiator tank.
You will be able to fish them out of the bottom through the lower rad hose connection.
Eric
The vanes are form bent and much too big to get through any water passages IMO,
I would think along the same lines as Sampson, the pieces are probably in the radiator tank.
You will be able to fish them out of the bottom through the lower rad hose connection.
Eric
#16
#17
#18
Could the lower radiator hose spring have broken and jammed the impeller? I've seen some pretty rusted springs in lower radiator hoses. Good post, makes you think about routinely changing that lower hose.
#19
The impellers wouldn't get past the heater hose nipples unless they were all bent to hell haha, Try to bend an already formed stamping of that thickness never mind ripping it off?? They would need to be pry'd up in order to snap off like that.. looking at the other vanes.. not even bent , just scuff marks.. I'm surprised they didn't fall out when he took the water pump out.
This is a case of the disappearing water pump vanes, I think the poster is pulling our chain .
This is a case of the disappearing water pump vanes, I think the poster is pulling our chain .
#20
One of the vanes was in the round hole on the drivers side of the engine. When I went to retrieve it, it fell into the block straight down. The other 2, hopefully they will be in the radiator. I will remove the lower hose and take a gander at it
#21
Remote Camera
I just bought on of those cameras like on the end of a piece of tubing and maybe a 4" screen display that is hand held. The camera/light fit nicely down the EGR tubes in my intake manifold. That was it's first successful use for me but I think you may have found another place that it could be tried. I will say that the end won't bend around sharp corners.
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Walterdurbin
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May 12th, 2016 03:32 PM