5.0L Water Pump

[Mountinheer]

Thanks for the tip,i did kind of regret taking the belt off... and can't find my strap wrench. If the monkey wrench fails i'll hit oreiley in the morning.

I'm not 100% it's the pump, but it was leaking behind the hose, and it wasn't the hose... and then I found the missing bolt and figured that was enouigh evidence.

Sigh...

 

[imp]

Threaded holes for water pump attachments which go through into the water jacket are fairly common, since it's easier in production to "through-thread" than blind-hole thread. I always poke a scratch-awl into all the holes, finding if they're blind. If not, put sealer on the bolt threads. Slow thread leaks can be a bear to locate. Looking in the holes closely is risky, because often they look blind, with accumulation of crud at bottom, and actually go through into the water. imp

 

[Mountinheer]

https://goo.gl/photos/jvfM7Bmti5eogCtk9

This pile of junk got the fan off... pump is off. I'll decide what to do about the broken stud in the morning.

Thanks for the help.

 

[koda2000]

I put sealant on the threads of through hole bolts and I liberally coat the bolt shafts with anti-seize.

When I started this thread I was trying to change the W/P on our 2000 Mountaineer 5.0L, as I believed it was rattling. I was able to remove all the bolts fairly easily except the long bolt at the 1 o'clock position. My problem was the head of the bolt (which has a stud sticking out of it to hold some wires) rounded off on me. I tried everything I could think of to get get that damn bolt out. I would have been happy if it broke, but I just couldn't get it out. More heat might have gotten it, but I had too much grease in that area and it kept catching on fire (I should have de-greased the engine first).

While I had everything else apart I discovered the real source of the rattle was the lower belt idler pulley. I replaced the pulley and, as I didn't have time to go "mid evil" on the last W/P bolt, I decided to put everything back together and to deal with it when the W/P does go out (which will no doubt be in the middle of winter). When that happens I'll make sure I'll have all the time I need to do the job. I find that when I get frustrated with something the best thing to do is walk away and come back to it the next day with a clear head. This usually results in a new approach to the problem that works.

 

[Mountinheer]

New pump in. Same leak. Good call koda.

I guess I could have the same leak from the pump, because I still didn't use the top right bolt, but I was very careful, and the leak didn't really change at all.

Ok, so wtf is leaking, intake mani? What is right above the pump where I can't see that is spewing water?

 

[koda2000]

A common place for the 5.0L to leak is from the passenger side of the timing cover. There's a gasket there that is very thin around the water port into the block. If the front of the vehicle is raised the water tends to run down the passenger side oil pan rail. If the vehicle is level it drips straight down to the ground, left of center. I was dreading replacing that gasket and a friend of mine said I should try a product called K-Seal. I was a bit surprised to see that the stuff worked almost immediately and hasn't leaked a drop since. That was almost 2 years ago. The nice thing about it is that it wont clog anything (like your rad or heater core) is considered a permanent repair and the product remains active in your cooling system to fix future leaks.

I would guess if the intake gasket(s) were leaking and the front of the vehicle raised the water would run off the back of the block.

I also had a pretty good leak coming from the area of the t-stat once. That turned out to be a small hole in the t-stat bypass hose.

 

[Turdle]

New pump in. Same leak. Good call koda.

I guess I could have the same leak from the pump, because I still didn't use the top right bolt, but I was very careful, and the leak didn't really change at all.

Ok, so wtf is leaking, intake mani? What is right above the pump where I can't see that is spewing water?

the little elbow hose, from water pump to thermosatat housing, will often crack on the inside of the elbow where you cannot see it until you squeeze the hose. You might have someone rev the engine a bit to see if you can see it "spraying" out of that area. When this happens it makes the top of the timing cover wet.

Coolant leaks from the timing cover gasket failing are common also. If I were to go in this deep again I'd at least have a timing cover gasket set with new lower seal-some have even encountered warped timing covers which need replaced.

 

[koda2000]

A common place for the 5.0L to leak is from the passenger side of the timing timing cover. There's a gasket there that is very thin around the water port into the block. If the front of the vehicle is raised the water tends to run down the passenger side oil pan rail. If the vehicle is level it drips straight down to the ground, left of center. I was dreading replacing that gasket and a friend of mine said I should try a product called K-Seal. I was a bit surprised to see that the stuff worked almost immediately and hasn't leaked a drop since. That was over 2 years ago. The nice thing about it is that it wont clog anything (like your rad or heater core) is considered a permanent repair and the product remains active in your cooling system to fix future leaks. I also used it on my '00 5.0L XLT when it started puking coolant out of what appeared to be the water pump. I really did not expect it to work as that was a pretty good sized leak, but again it worked almost immediately. That was 2 years ago this Oct and hasn't leaked again. I'm not usually a fan of additives and hail-Mary products, but I have to admit, K-Seal is good stuff. I keep a bottle in my garage now.

I would guess if the intake gasket(s) were leaking and the front of the vehicle raised the water would run off the back of the block.

I also had a pretty good leak coming from the area of the t-stat once. That turned out to be a small hole in the t-stat bypass hose.

 

[1998Exp]

New pump in. Same leak. Good call koda.
I guess I could have the same leak from the pump, because I still didn't use the top right bolt, but I was very careful, and the leak didn't really change at all.
Ok, so wtf is leaking, intake mani? What is right above the pump where I can't see that is spewing water?

The 5.0 is notorious for leaking from the top right and left corners of the seal between the timing cover and the block, where the coolant passages to the pump are. There is barely 1/4" width left to seal next to these passages, and the paper gaskets just fall apart in those spots over time. It doesn't help that the cover is being pulled down and away from the block there by the weight and vibration of the fan and by the tension in the serpentine belt. After an unsuccessful repair, I used a metal gasket, coated with sealant on both sides. So far so good.

 

[Mountinheer]

Thanks guys. Good advice all around. Going to grab a bottle of K-seal tomorrow. We will see...

Guess i'll have to sweat it out in traffic tomorrow. Mounty has good AC, but only other car I have at the moment is mitsu that won't hold an AC charge.

 

[Mountinheer]

Before:
https://goo.gl/photos/LM2GZwWodR9LmyFZ9

After:
https://goo.gl/photos/mduxwV7Vr9sraDRB7



...simply amazing.

Btw. Was that a timing cover leak?

 

[koda2000]

Is that before and after the K-Seal?

 

[Mountinheer]

Is that before and after the K-Seal?

Yes. Before was actually after 1-2 min with a 1 bottle. Turned off because I wasn't sure it would work. It blew out air for a bit, I added 2nd bottle, no more leak.

Probably didn't need 2nd bottle... but it was a pretty bad leak... went (drove) around the block and it looked good. think i'll take it to work tomorrow.

 

[koda2000]

Yea, I don't know that the second bottle was necessary. My buddy had said to put it directly in the radiator and to just let the engine idle for a 30 mins. It didn't take 30 mins for my leaks to stop, but the stuff has to circulate and find the leak to stop it. If it should start leaking again driving it should stop the leak again. The leak in my Mountaineer wasn't that bad (more of a steady drip) but the leak on the XLT was probably as bad as yours. Neither has ever leaked again to-date and like I said it's been 2.5 and almost 2 years respectively since I put the K-Seal in. I don't know why it works so well, it doesn't look like much going in, but it sure seems to work, at least on certain types of leaks, ! hope it continues to work as well for you.

 

[Mountinheer]

Thanks for the tip, koda. Seriously. Can't believe that just worked.

I think i'm going to sue the k-seal people for letting me replace my water pump when they knew they could fix my leak in 10 mins. *******s. Then KNEW

 

[MAS Tequila]

I had a t-stat housing start leaking, it was cracked and would leak after coming up to temp.

This happened when I was just starting back to south Florida from NC a couple of years ago on a Sunday morning.

I poured a bottle of K-Seal in the rad and made it home without an issue.

I changed out the offending piece a couple of days later and there was no build up or sign of anything inside of it.

I carry a bottle with me now, just in case.

MT