some of you may remember my thread about my 79' 308 and its loss of coolant and and erratic temp. issue. so i bled the waterpump housing and the radiator. blocked off the top return line of the coolant reservoir and filled the tank with a 50/50 mix. started the car and let her warm up. watched the tank with the cap off to see what the coolant would do. but i noticed as i was looking around a wet spot under the car. but it was not under the overflow hose outlet,,,, i started to look around and i noticed green coolant on the oil pan. my mind began to wander,,,, i got a flashlight and started looking at every hose and tube i could find,,,,, finally just by luck i noticed a drip in the corner of my eye from below the pump housing. ****!!!!! so can it be rebuilt with new bearing etc by a local shop or am i stuck with buying re-manufactured or OEM?
already been looking online,, looks like i can get away with a new or reman pump for 3-4 hundred,,, not the end of the world,,,
Without reading the other thread, I find it hard to believe that a "drip" would cause the overheating. But then again I've been wrong before. Let us know how the rebuild of the pump goes, pictures are always appreciated.
Eurospares in the UK have re manufactured pumps for around $240.I bought one without any problems http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ferrari-308-Water-Pump-PATTERN-208-328-Mondial_W0QQitemZ360057141559QQihZ023QQcategoryZ10380QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262
im not positive on the time the pump has been dripping. but from the looks of it, it is dripping a drop ever 3 seconds or so. so if it is a drop every 3 seconds then even just 2 hours of drive time, that is a good amount of fluids.
The 308 WPs are easy to rebuild. Cost is typically $100 - $125 for the parts. It takes about 2x as long to remove & reinstall the WP as it does to rebuild it. Figure about 3 hours all told, maybe 4 hours 1st time you do one. This thread has pix of all pieces of a WP, some tips on rebuilding, & links to a couple of the better WP rebuild procedure sites: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47191 There are several good WP rebuild threads in Tech Q&A, search is your friend. Be careful, some those 'new' pumps being sold in Europe have very porous sand cast housings that have been reported to leak. Also they have a cast iron impeller that isn't as efficient as the brass impeller that came with the original pumps. If the housing looks really rough, it's one of the sand cast ones.
Yeah, I noticed that too on some of the various parts supplier's websites... I agree, I'm not impressed with the looks of them. What's the deal with all of the holes inbetween the vanes on the cast-iron impellers?
Your's is a '79? When were your cam belts done last? To quote one who's been there - "On cars prior to the 1979 model year, the water pump was hidden by the front cam belt cover. (It¹s also fouled by the rear cam belt cover but this easy to remove. See footnote). If your car is this model, I¹m sorry but to remove the water pump is a real pain. Unfortunately you will have to remove the air intake ducting, air conditioning compressor and the coolant hoses from the thermostat housing. You may as well throw a set of cam belts and tensioner bearings on if you need to remove all this! The pump is then very easy to remove, just seven nuts and off it comes. Unless you are an originality freak, use the side of the pump as a template and mark the area on the forward cam cover that fouls it. With a steady hand and an angle grinder you can remove the 7mm of offending aluminium from the cam belt cover. A medium grade grinding wheel will actually match the factory casting marks pretty closely, so if you are careful, you will not be able to tell it¹s not standard. The post 1979 cars had the cut out cast into the cover making removal much easier" Just when exactly the change over was is any body's guess. With any luck your's may have already been modified. Edit Link to quoted passage. http://www.r-design.net/308/index_e.html
Has Jacques of MaseratiSource started making these? He used my NOS for the one on the Dino and the quality is very high PLUS if he uses your NOS he gives you a VERY good deal if you supply the original part to help he make an Engineering template. Here is how mine came out: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190239619645
mine is not as described,,, luckily. i can get to the pump easily. it is not blocked in too bad. thanks for the scare though,haha
Joe, I have just overhauled my waterpump. It's easy to do, but it takes some time. I had ordered two new bearings, seals, gaskets at Rutlands. Total on parts $130,-. Make sure you order the right seal, there are two kinds of diameters, small and large. Same for the bearings. The waterpump housing has two small holes on the bottum side, it's normal if there might be some dripping of cooling fluid from there if you have changed fluid. To check if the waterpump is really the problem you can investigate by putting the end of a long screwdriver at the waterpump housing and the other end at your ear, have the car running obviously. Mechanical malfunctions can easily be isolated this way. Sounds stupid but it really works. Good luck. Jan
I'm sorry, it was not my intention to scare you. @Kiko312 A mechanics' stethoscope is not very expensive and is much better than a screwdriver. They range from $10 us up. They resemble a normal stethoscope but have a thin probe attached to the diaphragm instead of the trumpet a medicos' stethoscope has. Trick is gathering sufficient experience listening to a healthy engine that one notes the difference.
