fburkle

Hello, I am new to this forum as of today. My question is about the water pump on my '76 Ninety Eight. I bought the car in '07 with 9,700 miles on it - all original except battery and tires. Shortly after I got it, I changed oil/filter, coolant, replaced the hoses and belts. I ran new heater hoses too. I noted the heater hose ran from the firewall to a connection on the radiator (below the radiator cap); not the water pump. And I distinctly remember the water pump having 1 outlet on the top. In '09 a mechanic recommended replacing the water pump. He put on a 2-outlet water pump with the unused outlet plugged with a rubber cap and clamp. It looked wrong to me and not original but he said that's what you get now. See pic attached of one like it from Fusick. Well, yesterday that rubber cap sprouted a major leak. I would really like to find an original style water pump with the 1 outlet, paint it the Blue Poly and put it on. It seems all I see are the 2-outlet ones. Any ideas? Thank you. Fred B.

jaunty75

9700 miles? Wow. Please post some photos!

About the water pump, Rockauto.com appears to have the 1-outlet version. Do a search on your car's year, make, model, etc., or just search on part number 58297. The price is only $8.84, which seems low, but it's a remanufactured unit. Seems worth a try, though, especially at that price. I've always had good luck with rockauto, and I think a lot of people on here would also speak well of them.

fburkle

Thanks for the tip. I will check them out. I have heard of them now that you mention the name. I attempted posting a few pics but the upload fails. The car now has 13,500+ on it. It's amazing how many miles you can wrack up just driving to and from in the Dallas area - and I don't drive the car that often. I'll work on the pics and try posting later. Thanks again.

jaunty75

I noticed that your water pump photo is a .bmp file. Is that the format you're trying to upload? I don't know for sure, but your photos may need to be in jpg format.

rocketraider

Neither the mechanic nor the parts store got the part right. Mid-70s Olds route the heater return to the radiator- it was a factory fix to a heater core noise problem. Correct water pumps for those years have the one outlet for the thermostat bypass hose with the boss for the heater return hose blanked.

It's a mess of trouble, but you could possibly yank the heater return nipple out and press in a correct diameter freeze plug. I've seen several water pumps configured that way. But you could probably change out the water pump in the same or less time.

joe_padavano

You can also put a rubber cap over the extra port. Caps are available from Dorman Products and are in most auto parts stores under their "Help!" line.

rocketraider

I think he wants to get away from the rubber cap thing.

fburkle

Thanks for explaining about why the heater hose was routed to the radiator. I didn't know that. And yes I want to change out the existing, incorrect, water pump for a single-outlet pump like the original one. So for now, the car is back in its storage unit until I can find what I need.

Regarding the pics, I am going to "shrink" the file size so I can upload them. The file size of each one is too big to upload currently.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to enjoy this forum!

Fred B.

fburkle

Hello, I shrunk the file size of 3 pics of my '76 98 Regency. A couple were shot at a local airport. No I don't fly. We just used it as a backdrop.

jaunty75

Wow, your car is gorgeous!