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Water Pump Restrictor Plate

For any poor soul that ends up needing the entire assembly, here is the part number from Bill... xs2z8501ea

Trust me, it's easier to just buy the whole thing rather than installing and uninstalling the old one a bunch of times to trying get it to stop leaking, only to find that the fluid has been leaking from the weap hole the entire time and it's worn or there is a bad seal somewhere in there.

I bought a new gasket thinking that would fix it... nope.. just wasted my time (and aggrivated my temper) putting it back in and having to take it back out again. It's those damn pinch clamps that get me... hard to get at. And the one closest to the front on the top doesn't like to fit past the other one behind it.... grrrrrrr. If you have done it, you know exactly what I'm talking about
 
I believe that the spring clamps are superior. They hold constant pressure on the hose, where the screw clamps hold a constant size. The use of wide band constant pressure hose clamps is one of the factors that have provided the long hose life that we have all become accustomed to. It was not uncommon to plan on replacing all coolant hoses every 60,000 to 100,000 miles. I'm glad we are past those days.
 
I used to hate the spring clamps, then I found the proper tool to remove/install them. Now I like them. They're a piece of cake to remove and install... especially in the tight places. You unlatch the tool and their tight, and the hose is done. With the screw clamps, you'd have to hold the clamp in place while you tightened it, which can be pretty difficult when there's not a whole lot of room.
 
morbid said:
I used to hate the spring clamps, then I found the proper tool to remove/install them. Now I like them. They're a piece of cake to remove and install... especially in the tight places. You unlatch the tool and their tight, and the hose is done. With the screw clamps, you'd have to hold the clamp in place while you tightened it, which can be pretty difficult when there's not a whole lot of room.
Click to expand...

I'll have to go pick up this tool..... I always used various sizes of vice grips which can be tricky to fit in many areas.
 
Now that I am approaching 97K on my '98 E1 SVT, I decided to replace the WP for PM (my son is now driving it) & purchased a Prestone (GMB) pump with an iron impeller. However, after reading this post I'm going to get a Ford XS2Z-8501-EA come Monday & return the Prestone.
Thanks for the informative info!!
 
your not gonna get much pressure out of the water pump if you just remove that, lol. that is what keeps the impellar sealed up to something (as close to sealed up as it can get without rubbing that is) replace the pump :)
 
The pump on my '98 seemed fine, but after having one fail explosively on my '96, I decided to replace it as PM while I had a bunch of other stuff apart in there... At 110K I figured it was probably on borrowed time anyway. I took the pump out of the housing, and the restrictor plate just fell out. It was all scored up, so obviously had been riding on the impeller for some time. Oddly, it didn't make any noise that I could hear with the engine running. The whole Motorcraft pump assembly is available from Amazon for $90 right now, and come with the two big hoses attached. On my '96 I just replaced the impeller part and it was fine, but I 'm really glad I just went ahead and ordered the entire housing in the first place...
 
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