FridgeFreezer Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 A mate of mine has a very old 4cyl water pump kicking round that has a grease nipple on the shaft bit, presumably between the bearings (where the telltale hole usually is). This set me thinking if it's a good idea to drill & tap a normal "disposable" water pump to get grease into the bearings and prolong life? If you drill at the same distance along as the telltale there shouldn't be anything there to knacker. I can't see any reason not to try it, can anyone else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 A mate of mine has a very old 4cyl water pump kicking round that has a grease nipple on the shaft bit, presumably between the bearings (where the telltale hole usually is).This set me thinking if it's a good idea to drill & tap a normal "disposable" water pump to get grease into the bearings and prolong life? If you drill at the same distance along as the telltale there shouldn't be anything there to knacker. I can't see any reason not to try it, can anyone else? I would have guessed that the bearings would be sealed to prevent the ingress of carp through the telltale hole and that, therefor, you may be wasting time - and grease. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon White Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 As I understand it the tell tale hole is there for the reason that coolant leaks out of it telling you the pump seals have failed. If you block it off with a grease nipple surely all its going to do is allow leakage into the bearings that you may not know about and eventually casue the pump to sieze totally? Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted April 18, 2006 Author Share Posted April 18, 2006 Good point Jon, I guess an alternative is a squirt of WD40 up the telltale every so often to flush out any crud and lubricate things a smidgen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 This strikes me as a good idea. If you regularly inject grease - it should keep te coolant well away from the bearings - even if the seal has gone. How often do you look for coolant leaking out of the hole? The first most people know is when the bearings are totally shot, the shaft is all wobbly and water is p*****g out everywhere. I reckon also that the bearings go before the seal - and again this might prolong their life. I agree that the bearings will be sealed - but they are not 100% sealed and the positive pressure of grease is going to help push against the positive pressure of coolant. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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