Performance water pump vs standard

dancadman · Feb 11, 2019

This would be an opinion question I suppose, but I suspect that my water pump is going bad on my Mach 1. I was looking at the Edelbrock High Flow Performance Victor Series Water Pump - Short vs the standard Ford Motorcraft PW646. There's about $120 difference between the two. I'm not planning to do any serious mods to my engine, so I'm thinking the PW646 will be sufficient. I will likely go ahead and change the thermostat while I've got the coolant drained. Speaking of coolant, any preferences with that? I live in South Alabama, almost at the Florida line, so that give you an idea of the climate I'm in.

Over the last few weeks, it runs hot if I'm stuck in traffic and if I turn the heater on full blast, it goes down fairly quickly. I've also had a strange squeak while the engine runs and gets louder as the RPMs increase. My first thought for the noise was the tensioner pully, but I replaced that about two years ago. I'm thinking maybe the water pump bearing is trying to go out and isn't pumping right, but that's just a guess. It doesn't always squeak and the squeak doesn't seem to coordinate with the temp problem. Those noises are so difficult to pinpoint!

You guys are awesome! Let me know you're thoughts! Thanks!

2002BLGT · Feb 12, 2019

stock pump is fine , if you are having cooling issues with a stock pump , an aftermarket pump isn't going to fix it , you need larger radiator or you have a blockage in flow somewhere usually

Patientzero · Feb 12, 2019

Agreed. I tracked my car in August in Texas with no overheating issues. Stock pump, stock fan, Fluidyne aluminum radiator. Make sure you don't have a coolant leak somewhere like around the manifold or heater hose fittings. If you know somebody that can pressurize the system I would start there.

For coolant I always run Distilled water + Redline water wetter. Been using this combo for 10+ years in my track cars and motorcycles. If you live somewhere that gets even close to freezing I would add coolant to that mix.

I've also heard good things about the Evans? Waterless coolant but I've never run it myself.

01yellercobra · Feb 12, 2019

I'd double check your fan. Cooling issues in traffic usually means air flow issue. And that would be the fan.

I ran a stock replacement pump from Autozone on my Procharged 01 Cobra. Never had issues. It was usually around 190-200 degrees.

dancadman · Feb 25, 2019

Thanks for the tips. My dad was in town this weekend and we checked a bunch of things out, and it appeared that the overflow cap had been leaking. When we put the new on, it clicked once it was was tight. The other one just got tight. We also had to fill up the reservoir a couple of times before it would stay at the right level. I'll see how it does this week. That could also explain the squeak noise if there were air pockets in the coolant, it seems.

BigBore96 · Apr 9, 2019

You can always drill a couple holes in the thermostat. A lot of track guys run 3 1/8 holes.

This is a common mod and will help a lot in lowering temps and removing air.

Wild Horses · May 6, 2019

Yes if you turn the heat on and the defrost is on it will run the ac fan and cool it down and circulate the coolant.

The fan pigtail is notorious for going bad in all these body style cars. Does the AC fan come on? Have you noticed if the fan ever runs in traffic?

Also the squeak sounds like something could be leaking onto the belt possibly from a hose/coolant x-over/or maybe your water pump weep hole. They don’t usually go bad in terms of flowing less... they’ll leak out of the little weep hole behind the pulley under the bearing to let you know it’s time for a new one.

Process of elimination. These systems are kind of a pain.