Water pump pulley snapped

[theWalkinator]

So my son yesterday went to fill the gas and he noticed at the gas station that he lost the power steering and battery light went on, I had him drove out to the nearby parking lot and shut the car off, he noticed the engine temp gauge is in red and some coolant came out under the car. I know that it must be the serpentine belt either slipped out or snapped, so I went to the parking log, we took out the engine cover in the cabin firewall, yup, the belt slipped out but not broken, so after I removed the belt I found out that the water pump pulley was lying on top of the plastic under belly cover, I picked it up and it snapped off the WP bearing, I can see the bearing balls and coolant is leaking from there. This is crazy, I have seen water pump failure, the bearing worn out but had never seen the pulley can snap off!

Anyway, called AAA to get car towed home, ordered a water pump kits with low temp thermostat from Pelican Parts, and serpentine belt, expansion tank has no leak which is a good, replacing water pump and thermostat do not seem to be a difficult job but will be messy, anyhow, waiting the parts to come.

[78F350]

That's crazy... Any idea how old the water pump was or what brand?

[997_986]

It will be interesting to see what the pump looks like when it is dismantled. My guess is that the pump has increased resistance due to some kind of damage. Subscribed!

[10/10ths]

……have a history of pulley failures. I haven’t seen the water pump pulley fail like this, but I have witnessed multiple failures of other pulleys on the serpentine belt.

I would replace all of the idler pulleys while you are in there for the water pump replacement.

Keep us updated.

[997_986]

These?

[theWalkinator]

Okay, I got broken water pump and old thermostat removed, and got new water pump and new low temp (73c) thermostat with new housing installed today. Drained about 3 or 4 gallons of old coolant, very dirty, I raised the front the car higher than the rear to get as much coolant to as possible. The center drain plug was stripped so I only drained the coolant from the water pump hose and thermostat hose.

I filled 2.5 gallons of distilled water and expansion tank is full, after started engine and I was able to fill another gallon then it won't take anymore (I do have the purge valve opened), so I went to get the car heat on max and brought it to operation temperature then hold the engine between 2500 ~ 3000 rpm for about 10 minutes, thermostat was open and radiator fans went on so the system was circulating. I shut off the car and it was going to get dark so I am done today. Tomorrow I will try to fill more distilled water if it can take more. I ordered a coolant vacuum kit from Amazon and just arrived after I was done initial filling and bleeding. So tomorrow I will drain the distilled water and try this coolant vacuum fill kit.

Here are the old broken water pump, the bearing is shot, all 6 fins on the propeller are broken on the tips: