Krushert

Why would cause a Water Pump to fail on the average of every two years? I have a 2000 Grand Cherokee Limited with an I6 and the fourth water pump (that I know of) is starting to fail and the jeep does not even have a 100k on it yet.

I am the third owner with my father-in-law being the second. I have his receipts and mine to prove that we change three pumps and I am counting the orginal as four.The last two have been NAPA water pumps and up till now I have had good luck with their parts. All three aftermarket pumps have been installed by mechanics. But I think this one I will do myself just to save a few bucks on labor.

I am just curious.

Bustedback

Maybe the belt is too tight and causing the bearings to wear out faster? I would try a factory new pump and add some water wetter that offers better lubrication for the pump. It might help.

GI-Jeepin'

Also remember that due to economy's down turn a few years back, many companies had to re-outsource their suppliers to get the same parts at cheaper prices. Many instances were suppliers from overseas and south of the southern most US border supplying vast inferior parts but at cheaper prices. Other wise costs would have gone up alot and that would have been passed on to me and you.

I would also recommend using an OEM pump

Krushert

Thanks for your responses and sorry for my lack of response. I had to travel for work and been going straight out. The good news is that My mechanic is going to replace the pump for free and that he switch suppliers, though still aftermarket. I guess I will have to just wait and see.

Thanks again.

jnicewan

Every 2 years may not be bad considering quality of product. What kind of failure are you having, is it the bearing, seal or what?
Also I doubt its your problem but old coolant becomes acidic and can corrode anything in the cooling system, this usually causes a concern with repeat heater core failure and is more problematic with the old green coolant.

2Evil4U

This is important. If it is blowing the shaft seal repeatedly, I'd say the pressure is running high in the system. Maybe you need a new rad cap?

Krushert

It was the bearing, which was making a racket.

I put on a new cap on last year when the fan switch module/relay went bad.

Oh well at least the Jeep is paid for, sort of!

dave1123

Check your fan for being out of balance. Might be nothing. Bad quality parts is probably the thing. I bought a NAPA Supreme pump and they didn't install the impeller deep enough on the shaft. I mounted it and it wouldn't spin. Took it off and it was hitting the cylinder barrel. Good thing I didn't finish the job and started it! The difference was only 1/16 inch!

jnicewan

Funny I had that same problem, but it was not a NAPA part. Anyway its possible that the water pumps have junk bearings, seems like those Chinese bearings dont last long. Belt tension could be too tight, Fan could be bent or out of balance. Fan clutch could be loose and wobbling ( with everything installed, you can wiggle the fan baldes and should not see slack in the fan clutch/shaft. )

1ATony

My sister has gone through 2 on here 02 Grand with the 4.0 in it. For some reason these motors seem to gobble up pumps pretty good.

My dad has an 04 and replaced his, and I have an 04 that I'm sure I'm on borrowed time.

dave1123

Personally, I think the problems with the pumps are not the pumps or the engines, but the quality of the bearings used in them. My whole life in the metal trades showed me a company can save a ton of money by cutting the time and labor of not doing proper heat treating. I have also seen bearings last 50 years with no problems, but after replacement only last a short time. Problem is, even with a lifetime warrenty, companies will still cut corners with the hope that not too many units will fail or the customer won't demand replacement.

It seems funny to me that parts for aircraft cost substantially more but fail less often, although having your car die is better than having your aircraft engine blow up while you're in the air!

1ABrian

Ive done 2 in my 97 I6 in the last 9 months and the stupid metal heater tube that threads into the top always seeps. Its not a complicated job, just time consuming. Mine were making a scraping sound but the weep hole never leaked. Shaft was loose as a goose. I was baffled

dave1123

Did you inspect the threads on the heater bypass tube to make sure they weren't corroded? Sealing pipe threads is not rocket science. What type of sealer did you use, if any? Replacement pipes are not expensive.

My 97 4.0L pump was clattering like hell and the shaft was so loose you could move the fan 1/2 inch and the seal never leaked. When I removed the pump, there was a score mark on the cylinder barrel from the impeller!

dabat

Check your coolant mix. Antifreeze has lubricants in it and if you mix is not strong enough, your pump my not be getting lubricated enough.

dave1123

Are you aware there is a seal between the coolant and the bearing? They haven't used a wet bearing since the '40s.