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Water Pump Restrictor Plate

I'm interested in changing mine soon but can someone take a picture of the housing and the waterpump seperate from each other. I just want to see the difference and what each part is before I go and do some surgery on my car. Thanks
 
You can only put it back together one way and it's rather obvious. Make sure you know where the 3 long bolts go. Read the FAQ and get a CD for your car.
-Andy
 
If I go to an Automotive store and tell them that I want a w/p for my car, does the housing come with it? I'm definitely going to check to see if it has the metal impellar
 
I don't think there have been any occurances of the later model white platic impellers failing. You can go to a local store and they'll be able to look up the w/p for you... but it's just the w/p (w/o housing). That'll run you about $70. Or, you could get the kit: w/p, housing, and both primary hoses (everything already assembled)...... from Bill J for about $70.

When I replaced my w/p the first time.... I wish I just got the kit. With gasket maker and a gasket, I still had a persistent minor leak.
 
Ok i just replaced my WP not to long ago!

Questions

1. So when my car sits for more than a day and i start it up there is a rattle sound for 2 seconds then it quits. This could be that metal ring that also fell out of my WP? That sound was driving my crasey!

2. If i had over filled my coolant tank by 1 inch would it lead to the weap on my WP to leak.

Thanks and i hope you can help me clear things up!
 
I have not heard your car but I doubt it.

Most likely the water pump wouldn't make much noise as the impeller is plastic. I didn't hear any noise on mine when I found the plate loose. It would help if you stuck a listening device on the water pump when the car is making noise. A stethiscope, long screwdriver with one end on the pump and the other to your ear, a length of hose held to the pump and the other to your ear.

More likely you have some timing chain rattle. An oil filter with a silicon anti -drain back valve may solve the problem, or a new filter, even the ones with the good anti-drain back valve can leak down sometimes. The timing chain has a hydraulic (actually two, one for each bank) timing chain tensioner. If it leaks down, the timing chain ratles from looseness for a moment until oil pressure builds up. It is also possible that the tensioners have failed or the tensioner guides have worn, but that isn't common. The noise will be on the opposie side of the engine from the water pump.

You didn't tell us what year your car is. It makes it difficult to answer your questions if we have to guess. If your car is a 95, it is more prone to timing chain tensioner failure. The design was improved for 96.
 
Aspenmeteor said:
.... If i had over filled my coolant tank by 1 inch would it lead to the weap on my WP to leak.
...
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No. We are supposed to overfill it at least 0.5 inch (or the coolant light comes on for no apparent reason). If the WP leaks, it is because wrong gasket material was used or bolts were not torque to spec.
 
I have a 2000 Ford contour svt. 90,000 miles on it i do use a OEM motorcraft oil filter for oil and motorcraft 5-30 during the winter!

I do race auto-x (might have somthing to do with it) with it and i dont notice the sound untill i start it up after it sits for a wile. I will try to isolate the sound here in a few days and get back to you guy's

Also what is the torque spec on the water pump bolts? My new water pump did not come with them so i snuged them down to like 12-15 f/lbs
 
Your description sounds even more like oil filter leak down allowing for some timing chain rattle. Ford claims that a little timing chain rattle at start up is harmless, just annoying.
 
Big Jim said:
Your description sounds even more like oil filter leak down allowing for some timing chain rattle. Ford claims that a little timing chain rattle at start up is harmless, just annoying.
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Ive tried just about every filter (K&N, Mobil 1, Motorcraft etc.) and I still have the rattle on cold start-up.
-tropictour
 
Interesting reading guys especially when all our ST owners are told to check their water pumps for the plastic type BUT now I read from 1995 onwards we need not worry.:mad:
 
Bobster said:
Interesting reading guys especially when all our ST owners are told to check their water pumps for the plastic type BUT now I read from 1995 onwards we need not worry.:mad:
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Where did you read that? The switch from the black impeller pump that is prone to breakage, to the white impeller pump that is not prone to breakage was somewhere around late 1999 I believe. But 1998 and earlier cars definately had the black impeller water pump.
 
Rara said:
Where did you read that? The switch from the black impeller pump that is prone to breakage, to the white impeller pump that is not prone to breakage was somewhere around late 1999 I believe. But 1998 and earlier cars definately had the black impeller water pump.
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Soz misread a post earlier which refered to timing chain tensioners on this thread.:blackeye: I`ll be more vigilant in what I`m reading in future.

BTW my 2000 ST200 had the plastic impeller.
 
Bobster said:
BTW my 2000 ST200 had the plastic impeller.
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All production duratec water pump impellers are plastic, only the aftermarket ones are metal. The white plastic ones are the ones prone to breakage though, the black plastic ones are much more durable. My 2000 SVT (same engine as the ST200) came with the black impeller pump. The 98 SVT I owned for a few weeks had a broken white impeller pump.
 
Rara said:
All production duratec water pump impellers are plastic, only the aftermarket ones are metal. The white plastic ones are the ones prone to breakage though, the black plastic ones are much more durable. My 2000 SVT (same engine as the ST200) came with the black impeller pump. The 98 SVT I owned for a few weeks had a broken white impeller pump.
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That is the opposite of everything I have read on this subject. The black plastic impellers are the ones that are breaking, not the revised white plastic impellers on later cars. In fact your earlier post stated:

Rara said:
The switch from the black impeller pump that is prone to breakage, to the white impeller pump that is not prone to breakage was somewhere around late 1999 I believe.
Click to expand...

I say this not to rag on you but to ensure that nobody reads the last post and gets confused.
 
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The Five-Oh! said:
my 2000 had a white impeller pump. i was replacing it as precaution, only to have the housing fail within 100 miles. :nonono:
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I'm in the same boat. Although I didn't need to replace the w/p, I did so as a precaution on my 3L. Now I appear to have a leak from the housing. :\
 
SoopaCooga said:
That is the opposite of everything I have read on this subject. The black plastic impellers are the ones that are breaking, not the revised white plastic impellers on later cars. In fact your earlier post stated:



I say this not to rag on you but to ensure that nobody reads the last post and gets confused.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I got myself all twisted up somehow and stated it backwards. My apologies.
 
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