Water-Pump Warning

[Thalaric]

After having to go through all the following myself, I figured I'd warn you guys about possible problem with the MX-3's water pump. <P>It all started one day when I decided to let my girlfriend drive my car. I have no idea what she did, but she must have been really bagging the s--- out of the car. When I got it back, the tach was jumping all over the place. I figured she must have been fooling around with the laptop I have connected to the car. Nope. I reset everything and ran numerous diagnostic tests. It was'nt something electronic (at least, my tests came up inconclusive). I was leaving for a week or two, so I figured I'd put my car in a shop where a buddy of mine works and he could fix it. It's rare any one besides me gets to diddle under the hood, so he was surprised I asked him. Here's what happened:<P>Turns out, a small release valve of sorts on the water pump will open up when the bearing inside the pump goes. This allows all the engine coolant to leak out and onto all the hoses on the passenger side of the engine. (Yes, this is easy to spot, but I made the mistake of passing it off as something simple that would go away, like the voices in my head... lol). <P>So, since I was unlucky enough to have broken the engine temperature gauge when I installed new gauge faces, I could'nt easyly figure out the problem. <P>I ended up needed to get a valve grind, numerous seal replacement, new water pump, numerous belt replacement, and a new pulley for the water pump.<P>*********<BR>WARNING<BR>*********<BR>If you buy a new water pump from Mazda (yes, an OEM part), make sure you get a new pulley for it as well. The new water pumps have different mounting holes, and the old-style pullies won't mount up. I guess you could fashion something, but buying a new one was quicker. <P>All in all, my 'buddy' ended up charging me nearly $3,000 CDN. for the repairs, not including labour.<P>So I suggest you never let ANY women drive ANY car for ANY reason.<P><BR>*********<BR>SIDE NOTE<BR>*********<BR>I never did pay for those repairs. My buddy is biased against Mazda's and he never hesitates to trash-talk my car. He said now that he's been under the hood, he nows what it could do. So I challenged him and his '89 CRX Si to a race the weekend after the repairs at a local strip. After numerous runs and my buddy asking for odds that no Vegas bookie would even think of handing out, I walked away with a newly-repaired car, and no loss to my wallet.

[skyblue]

what a wonderfull story...i love honda eating stroies....hehe<P>skyblue

[raidermaniac]

no temp gauge ? how stupid can you get?

[g3939]

water pump, $25 from napa auto parts.<BR>pully, $5 from junkyard<BR>timing belt, $20 from autozone<BR>labor, free-did it all myself thanks to the navy hobby shop in fl<BR>not paying what you did for the same repair, PRICELESS,<P>just being funny,<BR> MX3s for life

[g3939]

PS, the holes for the screws in the new water pump where a little wider, and that cost me another 30 bucks