water pump drain hole is exactly...where?

[chicagojeff]

I alawys see references to making sure the drain hole below the seal is clear in the T/C water pump...I think I'm an idiot, because I dont see where the hole is. Help for a soon to be freezing Elan driver? Jeff in Chicago!

[types26/36]

Jeff,
From what I remember the drain hole is under the bearing, you would have to take off the pully to see it. Not sure if its really feasible to clean it in place, its something you would do when overhauling the water pump.
Brian

[Hamish Coutts]

Spot on Brian.

The drain dole in directly below the bearing and you do have to take off the pulley to see it. Best to use one of these little inspection mirrors. From memory it points downwards and slightly forwards.

If you really need to clean out the hole use a small drill bit e.g. 1/16" and twiddle it around by hand. Should remove any crudd.

There should be no moisture coming from the hole. That is a sign that the seal & bearing are not too healthy and may need replaced . Not a pleasant job.

Regards,

Hamish.

[john.p.clegg]

And excuse my ignorance but what is the drain hole for?
John

[types26/36]

If a slight amout of water seeps past the seal it is supposed to let it out before it gets into the bearing.
Brian.

[type26owner]

May I suggest you squirt some TC-11 up into the weephole. If you do this from installing a new waterpump it should be able to go about 200k miles between failures. After talking to the engineer the only thing that attacks this stuff is UV light (ultra-violet). Not much of that gets up into that cavity.
http://www.tc-11.com/

[john.p.clegg]

And i wonder what the U.K. equivalent of this stuff is?
John

[Hamish Coutts]

TC11 - Is it not WD40?

Hamish.

[john.p.clegg]

Looking at the TC11 website it is better than WD40,but still the question remains,is the drain hole there to give notice of impending bearing failure(as if one checks the front cover for moisture flung out by the pulley) or is it to prevent bearing failure?
John

[types26/36]

still the question remains,is the drain hole there to give notice of impending bearing failure(as if one checks the front cover for moisture flung out by the pulley) or is it to prevent bearing failure?
John

In my experience the seals often weep slightly (shown by the trace of anti-freeze from the drain hole) if not excessive it has no detrimental effect on the pump/bearing and will last for thousands of miles befor any action needs to be taken.
Brian

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

In all water pumps there is a rotating seal, one half is usually ceramic and the other carbon. These components are pressed together by spring pressure and rotate at water pump speed.
This seal is lubricated by the engine coolant. A very small amount of the engine coolant travels across the the seal area, mostly in the form of vapour and needs an escape route. The necessary escape route is provided by the so called drain hole.
Although not widely known, a common cause for seal failure is the use of too much anti-freeze in the engine coolant. These solutions help to lubricate the rubbing surfaces of this seel & are very important; however silicates that can be found in these products will build up on the seal surface.
If this build up is excessive it can break down due to the high temperature diffence across the seal surfaces. The result is that a partial break down occurs resulting in what is effectively a gap between the running surfaces of the seal and subsequently there is a coolant leakage.
Facit:- always use a suitable anti-freeze and never exceed a mix of 50 / 50. using more anti-freeze will increase the possibilities of high silicate build up.

[john.p.clegg]

Thanks
John