Posted by Don in NH [216.107.193.154] on Friday, February 20, 2015 at 10:48:20 :
In Reply to: Overheating - how about water pump? posted by Don in NH [96.61.88.160] on Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 22:02:53 :
I took the belt off last night - the water pump spins really easily, smoothly and without any noise. I shook the fan and no wobbling or knocking. Ran the engine the knocking sound was not present. So I checked out the belt for antifreeze, and there wasn't any I could see but it was pretty cracked and "pilling" (little balls of the belt lining which runs on the pulleys). I didn't have a replacement, so I rubbed the belt to get the bumps off and put it back on and tightened it up.
Lo and behold the rattling sound was gone. So I did some plowing/cleanup and the temp was steady at 180+/- and the radiator was warm at the bottom, no geysers.
Although it is a bit warmer then when the first problem happened, hopefully this is now resolved. For now I'm going with the theory that the original problem was the antifreeze froze, restricting flow. The extra effort required caused the surface of the belt to change which resulted in the clanking noises.
I'm going to be taking this all apart in the spring, so I can further check the pump blade and make sure there aren't any other obstructions in the radiator (I have a proper 1/2t one to install).
Thanks for everyone's input and ideas. Kaegi - great call on belt problems resulting in mechanical noises, it really sounded like metal bouncing around.
And no coffee was wasted in this exploration.
Thanks again everyone.
Don
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