I was so pissed off this afternoon, I could not even think straight long enough to stop and post this.  When I built my 4.9 I thought I bought a good water pump from Lordco.  When it failed, I got the best pump they had and replaced it.  Seemingly believing that what they were selling me was the "best" pump you could get.   So I installed it, I hated it from day one, the OEM Cadillac water pump is a sheet metal pump with a plastic yes Plastic impeller, which is known to slip on the shaft and fail.  The Caddy guys had just pretty much told me, plan on replacing it at every tune up.    OK skip ahead to a few months ago.  I was doing a final coolant fill on the 4.9 and realized that I had nearly zero flow.  Now I knew that I did not have an air lock, as I have pretty much gotten the coolant fill down to a perfect science even on V8's.    So I figured yep, pump must be gone again.  However I decided to "shop around" and see what else was out there. I found I could get Fenko junk for $66, GM Delco for $88 some off brand from Premium Auto parts for about 80 bucks, or Napa had a "lifetime" water pump made by Gates for Napa.  It was $105, I was kinda thinking "ouch" at the price, however knowing, it would be the last time I had to "pay" for a pump, in the end it would save me a few bucks.  So that is the one I grabbed.

       Now a pump change on the 4.9 is not a bad job, its about 20mins to pull it, 10mins to clean up the timing cover and 20mins to reinstall.  (vs the 4-6hrs I've spent doing a V6 water pump)

    I pulled the old Lordco pump off and to my screaming surprise I found this.   Can you guess where all the little bits are now?   

Hmm something is missing from here. Plus it really looks nasty

Can you guess where this ring is suppose to be.

Hmm well, whats left of the ring.

Yep that's where it is suppose to be.  I was able to fish that much out of the coolant ports around the timing cover.  The remaining pieces are INSIDE MY ENGINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

           I have 2 choices, pull the engine, dismantle it, find the remaining parts and put the motor back together, or Pray they found there way into the old radiator or old coolant pipes that have since been discarded when I moved the engine from the 85GT over to the 857GT.

So the new pump

Gasket looks kinda crappy, but they claim its suppose to be good, and if it is as good as the pump looks, it just might last.

Nice METAL IMPELLER.

SHINY METAL IMPELLER

Oh how I love thee Nice Shiny Metal IMPELLER.

Damn...

Which way does the coolant flow from the pump? Does it go into the engine or out to a coolant tube running up to the radiator? I'm just wondering where it's most likely that those broken parts ended up.

Sheeeit, what a nuisance.

Patrick wrote: Damn... Which way does the coolant flow from the pump? Does it go into the engine or out to a coolant tube running up to the radiator? I'm just wondering where it's most likely that those broken parts ended up. Sheeeit, what a nuisance.

I'm honestly not sure, I believe it leaves the pump housing and goes through the back of the block and out to the coolant pipe.  Hopefully any chunks will have made it out of the block.

Romeo wrote: God damn man... I'd be freaking in your position right now, and probably go to the disassemble phase...

I am going to run it and see what happens, if the engine turns into a nightmare overheating and such, I'll have no choice but to pull it.  I'll probably just find a different 4.9 to install and drive it, then take this one apart and rebuilt it over time.  Rebuilding a 4.9 is extremely expensive and time consuming.  To be honest I have not even found a machine shop that will touch the block, due to its design. 

Dr.Fiero wrote: A) Leave the chunker inside.  It's not going to hurt much. I'm betting it sinks to the bottom. B) Chances are, the chunk is big enough it wouldn't have made it past the thermostat, even if it COULD swim uphill. You COULD if you're looking for yet another project...  Hook up a garden hose to the pump inlet.  Take out the t-stat, and hit the hose. See if you get a plastic floaty barfed out. If nothing, you'll burp out a lot of the rusty sh*t floating around.

I have bled the entire system and ran fresh water through it several times to try and clean out any deposits in the system.  Hopefully, it barfed its way out and I did not notice it, or barfed its way into the old radiator.   The old rad was junked so I can't even inspect it.

CFoss wrote: Are you running antifreeze in that engine? Those parts look pretty rusty to me...I would have expected less corosion... Chay

     Thats a complicated answer.  Yes, No and Sometimes.    When I was running it as my daily driver in the 85 I ran the proper GM mix, of 1 gallon antifreeze, 1 part GM cooling system Tablets for Cadillac Engines, and 1 quart of Water Wetter, then filled it with distilled water.  However when the engine was pulled it was left empty for 8 months.  Then when it was initially installed in the 857 I ran just normal tap water in it to check for cooling system leaks, then drained it empty during the cold snap, and now am filling it back up with proper antifreeze. I'll add the water wetter and Cadillac coolant additive before I start driving it full time.

Dawg wrote: The impeller sucks from it's center and blows out around the edges. DG

        That is one of those answerers that is like a "well duh, ya, I already know that" 

BUT

          Reading it, made me stop and re-look at what I already know.  I stopped to look at it from a proper flow direction, location,  the water them comes from the center of the pump, which is the back of the block, then feeds through the impeller and goes to the front of the engine.  The gap between the pump feed and the block is so thin I don't think any piece large enough to cause an issue could have made it through, and anything that did, would be so small that it would flow through harmlessly until it reached the radiator tank and get stopped because the cores in the rad would have been too small to pass it.         So it looks like I should be totally safe.  

Thank You Dawg, for making me stop, take a step back and re examine what I already knew, but hadn't thought about it on a deeper scale.

Capt Fiero wrote: Dawg wrote: The impeller sucks from it's center and blows out around the edges. Thank You Dawg, for making me stop, take a step back and re examine what I already knew, but hadn't thought about it on a deeper scale.

Hey, you're welcome.

Patrick wrote: Which way does the coolant flow from the pump? Does it go into the engine or out to a coolant tube running up to the radiator? I'm just wondering where it's most likely that those broken parts ended up.