Yes, they did. I think there was more RTV than there was pump, LOL.

I don't believe it's rust. It seems to be more the color of red primer rather than the brighter orange of rust and there's an even coating of it on every surface inside the water passages. Also, it just wipes off so I'm guessing that it's an additive someone put in there at some point. I've only owned it for 6 months and this is the first time I've had to deal with the cooling system.

I tried replacing just the gasket, got a FelPro for $1.29... It didn't work but it was worth the $1.29 in case it did. I'm off to Napa for a new water pump and will just have to starve until next Friday :/

 

Post a pic looking inside the radiator or the under side of the rad cap......that way we can tell what it is. Should look something like this.

 

I don't have a radiator cap, I've got a reservoir bottle (Renix = closed loop). If I had to guess I would say there was very little "coolant" in there, mostly just water, which was crystal clear in the tank, although the inside walls of the reservoir bottle were coated with that red stuff, too, but it didn't really mix with the water.

 

I'll post a photo of the inside of the block and the inside of the old water pump. I washed the inside of the reservoir bottle so that won't tell you much.

 

I get puzzled on these little things.....maybe it was from the weep hole, (not the shaft), so it looked like it was the gasket? (or lack of).

You might check the surface of the pump for flat. Just curious. I've seen a freeze bend things. I've neded to take a big flat bastard file to a housing or two because the ears were bent out/up.

 

Good call, Don, I pulled the pump again and looked closely at the mating surface, there were definitely some pits that looked suspect. Could have been coming from the weep hole as well, IDK. I replaced the pump with a TruFlow from Napa ($37.80) and I didn't have any nuts or bolts left over and it's not leaking anymore so all is well... although replacing my water pump has apparently caused a misalignment of my NSS, LOL. Jeeps... [shakes head].

 

That's funny! (you being one of our NSS "specialists")..Guess I can't, say, "well now you are good to go and break something else"...yet.

 

How the.......

 

Because there always needs to be a certain number of things wrong to maintain balance in Jeepdom. Fortunately, the issue was temporary, after a quick jiggle of the shifter she fired right up and continued to do so (sans jiggle) afterwards. Perhaps the Jeep gods realized that breaking that part would make their strategy too obvious so they quickly took it back in favor of breaking something I didn't just rebuild two months ago.

...I can't wait to discover what they've chosen.

 

You mean to say, you didn't want to tear back into the NSS and try and adjust it again after doing a measly water pump?

 

That is why I'm not replacing the sagging rear springs. Ever.
It's sorta like an insurance policy. As soon as I do the radiator will blow.

 

Without seeing the Red residue that is pervasive throughout the whole cooling system, I believe it to be an anti-leak sealant such as 'bars leak' or 'radiator stop-leak' etc.

If you've got that crap in your cooling system, I would *seriously* consider doing a proper and complete flush. At the very least, back-flow the radiator and heater core.

Another possible cause for corrosion or metal deposits in the cooling system is the addition of regular tap water to the cooling system. NEVER, under ANY circumstances, use tap water for your engine cooling system. Instead, use distilled water. At about $1 a gallon, you can't afford not to use it.

Distilled water has ZERO minerals in it. Tap water has all kinds of minerals and chemicals in it...

 

that explains my 2 weeks replacing the cooling system one piece at a time lol. Radiator went then down went the water pump the t stat then the housing for that cracked then the lower house blew (mind you that was brand new) after all that had a leak we couldn't find turned out the tstat housing decided it wanted another new gasket. Damn the balance

 

F1, you might indeed be in serious jeopardy. I wonder if you can appease the gods by giving advise that causes somebody elses Jeep to implode?

I'm with Radi here. I found I could raise the rear of the Jeep some with cheap air shocks, then leave a front axle U-jount crunching and squalking. The strategy seems to work, 300K coming up...

 

Drove to work and back again with no leaks! Not even a drop. It seems to be running a tiny bit warmer than before (replaced 195º thermo with another 195º) but no biggie, it now hovers just above the 210 mark rather than just below it.

Oh, and the verdict is still out on what will break next. NSS issues have magically vanished.