dodgy bearing on Perkins 4.270 water pump

[fergycool]

Just noticed that the pulley on my water pump wobbles side to side if you push it. I have no idea how long this is been going on. But I've been running the engine without covers for an extended period of time as I've just had to replace the heat exchanger with associated re-plumbing! I noticed a "squeak" every 5 minutes or so. I intially thought it was the alternator/waterpump belt slipping. So I tightened it, which did kill the squeak. But of course that was just the extra tension stabilising the pulley.

There's no leak, so I'm guessing it's the bearing that needs replacing.

Is this a big job? Or is a new pump the preferred route!

(Perkins 4.270 - descendant of the L4 and forerunner of the 4.236).

Cheers,
Chris

 

[RichardS]

If, with the belt loosened, you can wobble the pulley from side to side so it makes a chinking noise, then the bearing has gone and the water seal with surely fail in due course and it will start to leak coolant.

The problem with most water pumps is removing the impeller which is normally pressed onto the shaft. Generally speaking, it's much easier to just change the pump.

Richard

 

[fergycool]

If, with the belt loosened, you can wobble the pulley from side to side so it makes a chinking noise, then the bearing has gone and the water seal with surely fail in due course and it will start to leak coolant.

The problem with most water pumps is removing the impeller which is normally pressed onto the shaft. Generally speaking, it's much easier to just change the pump.

Richard

Thanks! I removed the pump last night. It does look difficult to remove the shaft.

 

[fergycool]

The only place I can find a replacement water pump is on Ebay. The 4.270 was used in Massey Ferguson 780 combine harvesters, but the marine version was not that popular and I always struggle to find parts. It's a whopping £148 on eBay but I've found a weird site too that sells them for £105.

https://www.sawsansale.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=10065

Now I have twin engines. The other engine looks fine, but do I get a pair of these now? If I do, I'll never have to use the 2nd one. But if I don't it's guaranteed to die in less than a year, and in the meantime they will have become even rarer and the price will have rocketed....!

Cheers,
Chris

 

[RichardS]

The only place I can find a replacement water pump is on Ebay. The 4.270 was used in Massey Ferguson 780 combine harvesters, but the marine version was not that popular and I always struggle to find parts. It's a whopping £148 on eBay but I've found a weird site too that sells them for £105.

https://www.sawsansale.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=10065

Now I have twin engines. The other engine looks fine, but do I get a pair of these now? If I do, I'll never have to use the 2nd one. But if I don't it's guaranteed to die in less than a year, and in the meantime they will have become even rarer and the price will have rocketed....!

Cheers,
Chris

It's a difficult call Chris. My experience with cars is that sometimes water circulating pumps last the entire life of the car, and sometimes they go after less than 40,000 miles.

I would loosen the belt on the other engine and give the pulley a good pull and spin. If everything seems smooth and silent, I would just buy the one pump and take the old one to a local small engineering shop or garage. You could even buy the bearings and water seal online first and take those in and ask either them to just press off the impeller and then rebuild it yourself, or ask them to do the rebuild with your new parts.

I reckon that for less than £30 you could have a perfect spare pump.

Richard

 

[david_bagshaw]

sp pumps of preston will rebuild any pump. I speak as a satisfied customer .(had 2x ford sabre pumps done by them 2011)

 

[fergycool]

I thought that "Sawsansale" website looked suspect. I enquired about their payment methods and they replied:

Sorry for this inconvenience.We dont accept paypal right now as our PayPal account has been frozen due to some fruad transactions occurred make by some of our customers. To express our gratefulness to all our customers
We will offer additional 20% discount to you at if you pay by western union/moneygram.
Hope you can think about it.
Please get back to us if you need more details.Thanks


bagoutletstore@aliyun.com

Western Union? Yeah right!

Looks like the £148 on Ebay is the cheapest I can get. I think a rebuild may be preferable at that price!