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2G Symptom of a bad water pump

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99bluegst

10+ Year Contributor
200
1
Mar 10, 2010
houston, Texas
ok just wanter to share some experience here,

I just build my motor and changed everything except the water pump
300 miles later my radiator gave up on me but before that my coolant temperature never saw 213 F*. So I got new oem style radiator from oreilly and put it all back together with a new thermostat and filled up with 50/50 water.

So I start driving the car on highway and after 20 minutes driving at 60/70 mph
I see 219, i was WFT what is going on here, LOL. Since then every time I get out the highway my car starts to heat up and my a/c fan will kick on at 223F then just keep on going high. So by then I already replaced my sequent thermostat and still don't open cause the lower rad hose still so cold even at 223F.
:confused:
So then I went to home depot to get some shit to make my FMIC ducting for better cooling, so i finish all up and went for a test drive on the highway and now i see 213 while driving and slowly raising but then again i get out the freeway and start heating up again. :banghead:

I got to my friends house and change another thermostat with no luck.
By then I already start thinking that the water is slipping at idle so i let the car warm up till 210 when the fan kicks in and still my lower hose still cold and the upper hot like normal so hurry up and shut off the car and drain the coolant and take off the thermostat and i notice my thermostat was fully open then i realize that the water pump was not doing what it suppose too. :ohdamn:

Tomorrow ill be doing the water pump and keep you guys updated for the results
 
Last edited by a moderator:
As a rule of thumb for me no matter what car it is if I have the motor out I usually change the water pump just as an insurance policy. A lot easier to change out of the car then while in. Goodluck!
 
I hate to be that guy but are you sure you got all of the air out of the system? This all seemed to have started with what I am assuming is a leaky rad and a full coolant change let alone the two or three times you swapped thermostats. Is the pump discharging out of the weep hole?

Unless the pump is an original, high mileage, etc I would be looking at every simple possibility first: Thermo(which you can eliminate) , rad cap, and most importantly air and what seems like a lot of it in your case.

What temp did the car hit when the rad let go?
 
Might as well do a timing belt while you have it all apart! I always do them together and so do most on here! Check to see if you have a small leak from one of the hoses going to either the turbo or oil filter housing, throttle body or heater core. Small unnoticed leaks like that can cause you to over heat. And the hoses to the turbo and ofh take a lot of heat and are known for failing! Also like stated make sure the system is properly burped, trapped air can also cause issues. If you have access to a coolant pressure tester it would be best to pressure the system with that and see what is happening. I almost bet you find a small leak. It's very rare that the impeller blades go bad on the water pump but it is possible!
 
I hate to be that guy but are you sure you got all of the air out of the system?

Was thinking the same thing. Gotta be sure you burp the cooling system FULLY. I had burping issues a couple months ago when I put my aluminum rad back in. I knew I burped it fully, and after letting it run for 45 minutes with the coolant funnel on the cap, and then for another 20 minutes with the cap on, found out my rad cap wouldn't even hold 1psi. Luckly had a replacement. Don't over look the simplest of possibilities just because they are assumed to be good.

Even now my water pump leaks a little coolant from the weep hole, and it was replaced last year. It's not an OEM unit, but knew I'd get some use from it. Even with that leak, I have never overheated...
 
I hate to be that guy but are you sure you got all of the air out of the system? This all seemed to have started with what I am assuming is a leaky rad and a full coolant change let alone the two or three times you swapped thermostats. Is the pump discharging out of the weep hole?

Unless the pump is an original, high mileage, etc I would be looking at every simple possibility first: Thermo(which you can eliminate) , rad cap, and most importantly air and what seems like a lot of it in your case.

What temp did the car hit when the rad let go?

No water leak anywhere non!
I have a cooling pressure tester and I've idle the car for 30 minutes for possible air but I forgot the say before I change the rad for a new one I put some liquid flush for the system and then I drain it line 2 times just to make sure all the shit is out then I install the new rad

What I don't understand is when I finish my rad I idle the car for like 20 minutes and the fan kick in and I feel the lower hose was hot and I new the rad was working

So I'm do the warranty on my rad and change it one more time and see after that I'll keep updated,
 
So did it hold pressure with a pressure test? Have you inspected the cap? If it's the original radiator cap it's probably junk, mine finally started leaking in my 95 and I had to replace it. If the water isn't cycling properly I would suspect the water pump blades are rotted and not pushing the water the way it should. Do you know if its the original water pump and timing belt?
 
So did it hold pressure with a pressure test? Have you inspected the cap? If it's the original radiator cap it's probably junk, mine finally started leaking in my 95 and I had to replace it. If the water isn't cycling properly I would suspect the water pump blades are rotted and not pushing the water the way it should. Do you know if its the original water pump and timing belt?
Is a use water pump but not oem
 
Used Really? how many miles on it and how did it look when installed?

It looked new thought otherwise I would not use it

Update! Change the water pump, no leaky, temperature still go up to 223 after for a cruise in the freeway or idle, if feels like the thermostat is not opening at all both fans will kick in but still the lower rad hose it feels cold, at this point I no more ideas please help! :ohdamn:
 
We'll I'm friend to back him up.
So when he put the car back together . The water pump was wobbling bad at idle , told him to changed it . Lucky I know bunch of cool friend who let me have a free water pump (thanks john). now the water car has a better water pump .Problem is you guys might not know I had this problem befored, when I driving home the heater hose leak, alots of steam. I thought make it home and I'll be ok.
Nope apparently the steam cook my head gasket. So is head can't be clogged that bad or have air bulb that big too cause his problem.
 
Are you sure the thermostat is on right-side-up? Also should help if you drill a small hole in thermostat's flange to allow air and little bit of water to get past. This way you'll be sure not to have an air pocket there.
 
Can I ask did you have the fmic before or is that new to the setup? Only reason I ask is it could be part of the problem if your blocking the radiator more. You might want to run the fans always on thru link and see if it helps. Also making ducting around everything to tie the fmic and radiator together with help a lot. You might want to get a lower temp thermostat that will open sooner to help keep the motor cooler, and drilling alittle hole is a great idea is actually what I always do myself, helps out here in the hot Hawaii weather. Also do you still have the a/c installed?
 
Can I ask did you have the fmic before or is that new to the setup? Only reason I ask is it could be part of the problem if your blocking the radiator more. You might want to run the fans always on thru link and see if it helps. Also making ducting around everything to tie the fmic and radiator together with help a lot. You might want to get a lower temp thermostat that will open sooner to help keep the motor cooler, and drilling alittle hole is a great idea is actually what I always do myself, helps out here in the hot Hawaii weather. Also do you still have the a/c installed?

No a/c condenser is gone, the thermostat is new is my 4th one LOL,
I'm Sure is not the problem the radiator is new, water pump good, I can't think anything else, but even if the head is bad? It will cause not flow water?

Can I ask did you have the fmic before or is that new to the setup? Only reason I ask is it could be part of the problem if your blocking the radiator more. You might want to run the fans always on thru link and see if it helps. Also making ducting around everything to tie the fmic and radiator together with help a lot. You might want to get a lower temp thermostat that will open sooner to help keep the motor cooler, and drilling alittle hole is a great idea is actually what I always do myself, helps out here in the hot Hawaii weather. Also do you still have the a/c installed?

No a/c condenser is gone, the thermostat is new is my 4th one LOL,
I'm Sure is not the problem the radiator is new, water pump good, I can't think anything else, but even if the head is bad? It will cause not flow water?

And yes rad and FMIC is good sealed
 
Maybe try less coolant in your mix and more distilled water! How big is your fmic core? Did you flush out the block really well when the original radiator failed? Its possible there's some depree in it causing alittle blockage of flow and causing the high temps. Only other thing is to run a Lower temp thermostat and run the fans always on! Its hard to say anything else without being there bro LOL!
 
Maybe try less coolant in your mix and more distilled water! How big is your fmic core? Did you flush out the block really well when the original radiator failed? Its possible there's some depree in it causing alittle blockage of flow and causing the high temps. Only other thing is to run a Lower temp thermostat and run the fans always on! Its hard to say anything else without being there bro LOL!

Thanks anyways I'll try different sensor and run lest coolant
And the IC core is 2.5 tick

I'll keep updating the forum if anything happen, thanks
 
Not sensor, thermostat you can get a like 175* instead of 190*. So it opens earlier and starts cooling faster. My friends gsx has similar issues and it helped him, also drilling a small hole in it can help to. Hope you can figure this out bro and if i think of anything else that might help I'll be sure to post!
 
you shouldn't have to drill a hole our thermostats come with a jiggle pin that help in purging the air out . that pin should be facing straight up . i would do a leak down test to make sure the head gasket isn't blown .
 
Yeah man I'll try already 170* thermo from O'Reilly buy still not working
I've try to run no thermostat but AFR is at 10.8 is to rich so I put the thermo back in place, one thing I notice is when ever I star to heat up like 226 and up I rev the Engine at 3 or 4k and temps drop at 210 206*

Wiggle is facing up on thermo I'll try to upload a log so you all see what I'm talking about! I'll keep update
 
I believe those numbers are somewhat normal for us 2gs. I had a similar problem. If you get Link, you can adjust when the fans come on. I used to see 219-228 while cruising on the E-way even. Just adjust when the fans come on in Link. I rarely get above 209 now...
 
213-220 is way to hot to me .. mine maxes out at 206-209 on track days (still a lil hot for me)
I would burp the system then check for a head gasket or block is cracked you can test for that pretty easily
 
everything your saying still sounds like water pump still to me. you put a used one in? or blockage.
Or air bubble in the housing and its still not flowing water, tried pouring water down the hose into the block with cap off?
 
i would replace the water pump with a reman/new unit as insurance. dont want to have to do it twice
 
I was seeing temps in the 215-220 range with my fmic. I wired together both fans and made them constant on. I don't go above 205 +/- a couple degrees on a hot day. Typical day in the 80's I'm under 200.

When you replaced the radiator did you flush the rest of the system? I think it was mentioned earlier in the thread but no amswer. A blockage is just as bad as the water pump not working.
 
If all u did was put the radiator in and temps went up then either there is air or radiator is junk. Best thing I ever bought for my shop is called a funnel buddy. Screw it on to t stat housing and fill and watch for t stat to open. Also one thing u could try is Jack up passenger side since cap is on that side and air goes to highest point. you said that when u rev it the temp goes down,then the water pump is working. Let us know how u make out.
 
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