Leakless Water pump

L

Lenny Bruce

Senior Member
Hello friends. I’m going to swap the old water pump for a new leakless. I heard from a fella that after installing the new pump he couldn’t completely fill his radiator because it would spit out coolant of the radiator cap? Any insight on this?
Thanks
 
Radiator will seek its own level, should be below the baffle or just slightly above! Put the pump on and drive! enjoy.
 

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Lenny Bruce said:
Hello friends. I’m going to swap the old water pump for a new leakless. I heard from a fella that after installing the new pump he couldn’t completely fill his radiator because it would spit out coolant of the radiator cap? Any insight on this?
Thanks
Click to expand...
I had this experience after installing a new water pump, although for me it goes out the tube, not the cap. I suspect it's because with the old pump impeller the circulation flow is less than with the new impeller, and the engine internals gunk up. Once you put the new pump on the suction side of the system (engine) can't keep up with the pressure (upper tank) side, and it overflows.


I top off my radiator until it just shows above the baffle, but then after some driving it seems like it wants about a quart to a half gallon more to bring it back up. I can hear the coolant going down into the core (tubes) when I pour it back in. My preference would be to put in coolant until it just covers the tubes, and maintain it there, but I can't see the tubes because the baffle is in the way. I don't think it's leaking anywhere (head gasket is new) but I'd hate to run it dry inadvertently. I may try to capture the overflow from the tube and see if that's the volume that is lost, I'd feel better about fluid levels then.

JayJay
 
Agree with above comments on the water seeking its own level.

I think you will really appreciate the leak less pump. Just for added info. The Model A’s main cooling system is done by Syphon as was the Model T. The pump was added to help when driving at higher speeds. The syphon will move 30 to 35 gpm.

Enjoy your up grade.
 
Is it ok for “its own level” to be nearly a gallon below the radiator cap neck. Filled radiator to just below the cap neck and put on about 30 miles. Checked the next day before another excursion and added nearly a gallon of coolant. Would my A’s own coolant level be that low?
 
Orlfire53 said:
Is it ok for “its own level” to be nearly a gallon below the radiator cap neck. Filled radiator to just below the cap neck and put on about 30 miles. Checked the next day before another excursion and added nearly a gallon of coolant. Would my A’s own coolant level be that low?
Click to expand...

Could be. Cold, if the coolant is above the top of the core, that's all you need. Before you added coolant, could you see the top of the coolant?
 
Orlfire53 said:
Is it ok for “its own level” to be nearly a gallon below the radiator cap neck. Filled radiator to just below the cap neck and put on about 30 miles. Checked the next day before another excursion and added nearly a gallon of coolant. Would my A’s own coolant level be that low?
Click to expand...

If you had checked right after your drive, before your coolant (engine) had a chance to cool down, it most likely would not have taken as much.

If not overheating, I would not worry.

Enjoy.
 
JayJay said:
I had this experience after installing a new water pump, although for me it goes out the tube, not the cap. I suspect it's because with the old pump impeller the circulation flow is less than with the new impeller, and the engine internals gunk up. Once you put the new pump on the suction side of the system (engine) can't keep up with the pressure (upper tank) side, and it overflows.


JayJay
Click to expand...

This is like the old "the water circulates too quickly and doesn't spend enough time in the radiator to cool it" argument which, of course is rubbish.
The pump can only move as much coolant as becomes available to it. If there is a restriction in the block, not so much is put out by the pump. Remember that for every drop of coolant that the pump pumps, a drop is removed from the radiator so it cannot overflow for that reason.
Apart from expansion of the coolant, the only way the radiator can overflow is if it boils or there is a gas leak into it (like a blown head gasket) to increase its volume.
I hope my literary skills are good enough to have explained that clearly enough.
 
I am preparing to change my radiator. As I read I notice that the vendors say the "impeller should be cut-down" to slow the flow rate and prevent overflowing. And, this is required for reproduction radiators.
So the level of fluid and the flow rate seam to matter as well as the baffle.
Question I have is, if I change my radiator, should I change my impeller, too? My original water pump works well, has no issues, isn't leaking.
 

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Diastole said:
I am preparing to change my radiator. As I read I notice that the vendors say the "impeller should be cut-down" to slow the flow rate and prevent overflowing. And, this is required for reproduction radiators.
So the level of fluid and the flow rate seam to matter as well as the baffle.
Question I have is, if I change my radiator, should I change my impeller, too? My original water pump works well, has no issues, isn't leaking.
Click to expand...
D - I'd run it as is and not worry about it unless you find you are having an issue. You may already have the newer version of the impeller on your water pump. If you're curious it's easy enough to pull the water pump once you have the radiator out of the way. All it will cost you is a new gasket. It's easy to tell the difference once you have the pump out.

And as an aside, if you do choose to change your impeller, much easier to cough up a few extra bucks and buy the impeller already installed on the shaft rather than to change an impeller on an existing shaft.

Check where the overflow tube is in your new radiator. I described an issue in my post #4 in this thread a couple of years ago. Turns out the opening to the overflow tube was way down in the upper tank. I grabbed it and pulled it up into the neck, problem solved.
 
Diastole said:
I am preparing to change my radiator. As I read I notice that the vendors say the "impeller should be cut-down" to slow the flow rate and prevent overflowing. And, this is required for reproduction radiators.
So the level of fluid and the flow rate seam to matter as well as the baffle.
Question I have is, if I change my radiator, should I change my impeller, too? My original water pump works well, has no issues, isn't leaking.
Click to expand...

How does reducing the efficiency of a component improve the overall performance of the system. IT DOESN'T! At the very best, it disguises the problem. The pump pulls water from the lower tank through the engine and delivers it to the top tank. If the radiator is restricted (your most likely issue), the pressure in the block is reduced and as we all know, a liquid boils at lower temperature when the pressure is low. Any relief given by cutting down the impellor is short lived. Henry anticipated there would be a problem with some of his cars having a restricted radiator at some time in their life so to prevent the lower pressure causing a rubber lower hose collapsing, he used a steel tube. Many British and European cars had a coil of wire in the bottom hose for the same reason.
An EASY test to see if the radiator is restricted is to start the engine and run it at road speed, then open the drain **** in the return tube. If no water comes out, the pressure is low and could even suck in air. If that happens, fix the cause of the problem and don't fuss about trying to fix the symptoms. REPLACE the radiator.
 
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