Water Pump?

[Fordguy77]

I have been driving kateys Fj60 while i am repairing my ranger. I did a full tune up on it, and replaced the thermostat. And its been running great. However as of lately, it seems to be getting hot at low rpms, regardless of how fast i am going. Also when i come to a stop light with the heater on, it goes cold until the engines rpm are back up. So i believe i need to replace the water pump, but would like some second opinions.
Thanks,
Chris

[Chris]

Low radiator fluid? Fan clutch? These water pumps usually fail rather than slowly go bad. Do you get the roar of your fan going on?

Take a piece of cardboard and cover the radiator/grill with the hood closed. Start the cruiser and let it warm up. If its working you wont' miss the noise (roar) it makes. If it kicks in remove the cardboard and spray the radiator with water and you should hear the fan clutch kick off.

[Mporter]

:blah: you have a working heater :blah:

[Chris]

Yours doesn't Matt?

[Mporter]

Not always, and when it does it doesn't get very warm.

[Brody]

Try what Chris said to make sure your fan clutch is kicking in and out when it is supposed to. Like he said, when the Yota water pumps go, there is some noise (and some noticeable wobble), then they just go. The clutch is likely to go first on the fan before anything else.

Another thing to consider is that when you replace the water pump, you might as well replace the timing belt and all the other garbage that is so hard to get to on the front of the engine, making this a real project. You will have to have everything off the front of the engine anyway.

Another thought is to maybe do a really good flush of the system as it sounds in some ways like the heater core itself is getting a little plugged. BTW, how 'hot' is 'hot'? I know on my Yotas that I have had, that they consistently run all the way to the halfway mark when they get 'hot', but never any more than that. I installed a Yota fan from another junkyard Yota (it doesn't really matter which Yota either, as they used the same style fans in both trucks and passenger rigs, though the mounts are a hair different. I got mine for $17 at Pull and Pay) on my heap and just wired it into another switch. I don't have to run this often, but it is there if I need it.

[Chris]

Not always, and when it does it doesn't get very warm.

Matt, have you checked the valve in the firewall to see if it's moving? It could be that simple. If it's a sometimes thing that sounds very much like it could be the problem.

[Fordguy77]

Thanks for the info on the Clutch Fan Chris. Thats what it turned out to be, also did a complete coolant system flush, and shes back to running in the lower third on the temp gauge.

[Fordguy77]

Matt, have you checked the valve in the firewall to see if it's moving? It could be that simple. If it's a sometimes thing that sounds very much like it could be the problem.

I am not sure if this relates or not, but i had an 84 f150 where i had the same heating problem, and it turned out to be the cable that goes from the dash board to the valve that allows more fluid into the heating core was adjusted wrong.