Just wondering what kinda luck you guys have had with Gates water pumps. I installed mine back in March and its leaking pretty good now. I plan to replace it tomorrow or Saturday. Rockauto is going to cover the part but the replacement is still Gates. Also, what do you guys use to seal it? Just the gasket or gasket plus some sort of sealant, if so what?
Gates water pump = CRAP!
- Thread starter Mypetropig
- Start date
djthumper
Administrator
tblazerdude
Member
- Dec 4, 2011
- 321
Yeah, I thought they made good stuff as well. Maybe I got a lemon. It just sucks that it only lasted three months.
djthumper
Administrator
It is quite possible it was a lemon. I had one from another manufacturer that lasted only a year or so.
Replaced it today so we will see how it goes. The old pump(3 months) was leaking from the weep hole which tells me that an internal seal had let go.
djthumper
Administrator
gmcman
Member
- Dec 12, 2011
- 4,681
I used the Autozone pump with the dealer gasket, no sealant. Impeller was the steel with the welded blades.
Duralast water pump
Duralast water pump
No leaks from the pump so far. I do however have one at the radiator cap. I've tried several times to burp the system by letting it run with cap off, heater on while messaging the lower hose. After 45min I assume all is well and put the cap on. Take it for a test drive and no matter how short a drive it pushing past the cap. Safe to assume bad cap, its only a little over a year old. 
navigator
Member
- Dec 3, 2011
- 504
maybe try parking on a hill with the cap on the up hill side.Mypetropig said:No leaks from the pump so far. I do however have one at the radiator cap. I've tried several times to burp the system by letting it run with cap off, heater on while messaging the lower hose. After 45min I assume all is well and put the cap on. Take it for a test drive and no matter how short a drive it pushing past the cap. Safe to assume bad cap, its only a little over a year old.
Well fellas I found the leak after replacing the cap.. Its a hairline crack at the neck of the radiator. I've always wanted to clean the condenser coil, no better time huh. Best deal I have found so far is from 800radiator.com I forget the manufacturer name but they have less than a 1% failure rate for all models and its $155, no shipping cause they have a local warehouse. Do you guys have any recommendations for replacement radiators?
The thought did cross my mind. lol. I dont think it would stand a snow balls chance in hell of holding though.
djthumper
Administrator
djthumper said:
Any chance you have more info or a link? The radiator might as well be $1600 cause I don't have $160 right now.
djthumper
Administrator
Amazon.com: Permatex 09104 Radiator Repair Kit: Automotive
I used it on my wife's radiator in her van and it worked for about 6 months.
I used it on my wife's radiator in her van and it worked for about 6 months.
WarGawd
Member
- Sep 2, 2012
- 468
Just wanted to add after asking some questions about a water pump I bought recently (ACDelco steel impeller @ Rock Auto) I learned there are two varieties of gasket - an inferior paper one, and a better steel one...not sure what variety is supplied with Gates pumps, may be worth a little checking into, and order gasket seperately as I've seen mentioned a few times.
This time the gasket wasn't the problem. It was a pump failure. Next time, hopefully a few years from now, I will use a different gasket. Just finished replacing the radiator and will fire it up and check for leaks tomorrow.
What a battle! Replaced the radiator Friday only to find one of the cooler fittings leaking. Removed that radiator and did a warranty exchange, catch was that the closest one was Maryland. I picked it up today and just recently finished cleaning up my mess. No leaks yet though, I hope it stays that way for another 120k. The water pump is still behaving itself.
djthumper
Administrator
ace
Member
- Jul 29, 2013
- 7
Used Gates for the first 2. First at 60k, second at 100K, Third at 135k, installed an A/C Delco for the third pump and sitting at 190k and still strong. The first install I didn't use sealant, just gasket, as I was told by someone else, and it leaked, pulled off cleaned off with a finger wheel, installed with sealant and gasket and never a leak, just the shaft bearing in the housing wearing out and causing wobbling.
ace said:
While I hope to not have to do it again for sometime, if this one kicks the bucket I'm gonna see if rockauto will warranty me a different pump. This pump wasn't leaking from the seal but rather the weep hole just before the bearing.