I have a Jeep Cherokee 98 Sport 4.0l 6 Cylinder.

I want to upgrade my water pump. I have a 3 core steel radiator that I replaced back in 2008. Since then I have never had cooling issues at all, but I am coming up on a water pump replacement and I want to put a nice, quality, high performance pump in this time. This will be my third.

I am losing coolant and suspect the overflow hose AND the reservoir. It might also be the water pump which is why I asked. I checked the oil (tentatively! LOL) but it is not milky, and I have no white smoke in the emissions. WHEW!

I just want to upgrade this important part and not sure what to get, and what the plus and minuses are with my selection.

Thank you for your valuable time!!

 

Might want to get the system pressurized to see where your losing the coolant.

 

Here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Engine-Water-Pump-MOPAR-V9900083-fits-97-01-Jeep-Cherokee-4-0L-L6-/261977264495?fits=Make%3AJeep%7CModel%3ACherokee&hash=item3cff0fd16f&vxp=mtr
No need for a hi-perf. pump. I would be concerned about the coolant loss though.

 

Mine came from Napa. New pump, cost difference over reman was trivial. Fit & finish and materials looked good, install went smoothly, and it's been 2000 miles with no issues.

 

Standard water pump is the perfect choice.

 

^Agreed^

 

Make sure you get the Mopar Water pump. They use a USA Bearing and will last. Very inexpensive on Ebay.
The Napa, Advance Auto, Autozone and other cheap store brand pumps use Chinese bearings so unless you want to keep changing them out every year or two it is best to avoid.

 

Thank you for that advice! It was too late for me, although the repair shop said they used an OEM water pump, I would assume that is original factory. We will see. And it WAS the water pump that was the problem.

 

I am by no means an expert on water pumps. I am however 66 years old and I have owned more vehicles than I can remember. I have always used
re manufactured, (rebuilt) water pumps when I replaced one. I often didn't know what was pre-existing because I have only purchased one new vehicle from a dealer in my whole life. I have had only 1 water pump (from NAPA) fail on me within a year of installing it, and that one was brand new by the way, not rebuilt. . And I had 1 fail right out of the box.
I know many people over the years with vehicles. And all these people at one time or another have had to replace water pumps as well. I can't recall one time when they had a
rebuilt water pump fail on them after they put it in. It's true that these people as well as I didn't own the vehicle indefinitely. But in the short term 1+ how many years,
I don't see a documented history of premature failing of after market water pumps. My two cents would be it really doesn't matter which you buy new or rebuilt. Expensive or cheap. Foreign made pumps are manufactured to specs specified by the seller. I am only guessing that Chinese made ball bearings are designed by the company that sells the pumps in America and not the Chinese manufacturer.

 

Fascinating.

 

If I could add one thing, whatever pump you choose, clean the grease and grime out of the back of the pulley before bolting it on to the new pump. Even the smallest amount of gunk between the pulley and pump mounting surfaces will cause misalignment and a side load on the bearing making for a quick failure of the pump.