N* water pump?

coaldiger2 · #1 (**permalink**) 08-31-06, 06:40 PM

Two days ago the water pump on my 2001 Deville froze and took out the drive pulley, tensioner pulley and belt with no warning. The car has 56,000 miles on it and has never given me any problems before this. After reading some other posts on this site ( And finding out the local Cadillac daeler wanted $850.00 to repair! ) I decided to repair it myself. I've never had problems fixing any vehicle, from my first car which was a Model A to the last vehicle I worked on which was a 2002 Freightliner, I just wondered who came up with the idea for this pump? Getting it out was knuckel busting! I read about all the posts on this site and thought it was easy but man I'm glad I spent the last 10 years in truck repairs! I must admit that installing the new pump went a lot easier than taking the old one out and I had the best tools which my buddy from Snap-On loaned me but never again! My question is, after you pay 40 some thousand for a Cadillac, and do everything you can to maintain the car according to Cadillac's edics, you should get better bang for your bucks than this.

Never have I had a water pump on any car I have owned has faled this soon! and I've driven most cars I've owned for over 200,000 miles before I bought a new one. One other gripe was that the local Caddy dealer didn't even have the parts in stock to sell me to do the job. I had to go to a Chevy dealer to buy the drive pulley and to the local Advance Auto to get the rest!

Anybody else out there have problems with these pumps and what other problems can I expect from the engine over heating that I should worry about now.

**Ranger** · #2 (**permalink**) 08-31-06, 09:46 PM

Your expirience is not the norm. I had twice that milage on my '97 and never touched the pump and I thionk other have had way more than that. When they do go, they usually leak from the shaft seal and almost never sieze. Are you sure it was the pump that siezed and not the tensioner pully?

coaldiger2 · #3 (**permalink**) 09-01-06, 10:04 AM

I'm sure it was the pump. I could not even turn it with a 24 inch wrench clamped on it. I to have never had a pump go out with out at least some warning (a leak or noise ) this thing never leaked even after it froze up.

ptscaddy1 · #4 (**permalink**) 09-02-06, 08:03 AM

Had mine go on me @ about 112,000 miles, shortly after I bought the car used with 103,000 miles on it. No problems since. 95 SLS

chevelle · #5 (**permalink**) 09-03-06, 12:23 AM

Water pump failures like you describe are pretty rare. Search thru the forum discussions and you can see that. I'm sure that is of little consolation to you since yours did fail it sounds like but it is very unusual at those miles.

Just out of curiousity what was so hard about changing the water pump? In my experience the water pump on a Northstar like yours is one of the easiest pumps in the world to change. Did you have problems accessing the pump, removing the pump cartridge from the water crossover housing itself with the special tool or what was so difficult?

I assume you knew ahead of time about the special socket/tool to unclock the water pump cartridge from the water crossover housing and that it unclocks in a left-handed fashion?

coaldiger2 · #6 (**permalink**) 09-03-06, 07:37 AM

Getting it out of the crossover was the hardest. The tool I used was loaned to me by the local Snap-On rep. I almost got to the point I was ready to use an impact wrench on it but decided I didn't want to risk breaking the tabs in the housing. When it did let go it happened so fast I was sure something had broken but it didn't. The car is running fine now. The only other problem seems to be a pesky code P0443 that comes and goes. That started with me getting a message saying the fuel cap was loose and once that went away I got a code P0442. I took it to the Cadillac dealer and they replaced the cap and the code went away for about a month but now I'm getting the P0443 code. I checked the plug to the solenoid and the vacuum lines to it but no luck there. Any idea where to look next?

unruley247 · #7 (**permalink**) 09-03-06, 09:51 AM

I had 197000 on my 96 before my waterpump went out on me. My uncle has 285,000 and has never replaced his on the 95 concours.

CadiJeff · #8 (**permalink**) 09-03-06, 04:26 PM

definately not a common problem at all, it never even really comes up on the forum.

codewize · #9 (**permalink**) 09-05-06, 11:57 PM

I wonder if there was an internal failure yet unknown and something is jammed in the pump. If its that tight I doubt it's the bearing. And if it never leaked I doubt it's the bearing.

coaldiger2 · #10 (**permalink**) 09-17-06, 01:08 PM

The only thing about the old pump that was bad was the impeller. It looked like the welds where it attached to the shaft were bad and most appeared to be just a spot weld that let go. When they let go the impeller jammed the whole thing up in the housing. After I got the pump out the shaft turned freely.