Major Causes of Water Pump Failure Are Preventable

Analysis of Gates inspection data has identified the most common causes of premature water pump failure in passenger cars throughout Europe.

Gates, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of belts and tensioners and a leader in the design and supply of drive systems fitted as original equipment, says the most frequently recurring issues are installer errors:

  •  Dry rotation/testing for free movement of water pump assemblies before installation
  •  Use of inappropriate seals/gaskets or sealant
  •  Incompatible/contaminated coolant
  •  Installation of worn/defective parts

“Although these are major causes, they are not listed in order of importance,” says Andrew Vaux, Technical Support & Training Specialist. “They are repeated somewhere in one of our European markets on a daily basis. The message is that all of them can be avoided through training, access to good technical information, following the correct procedures and using the appropriate tools.”

Understanding what makes water pumps fail is the key to longer operational life of the drive system and its individual components and that’s why Gates gathers so much inspection data:

“It is important to understand that the average water pump has a throughput of around 1.7 million litres of coolant over a four year (100,000 kms/60,000 miles) duty cycle. Routine replacement of the water pump without investigating the cause of failure could condemn the new replacement to an even shorter life,” Andrew Vaux adds.

Fewer remedial repairs, more workshop efficiency and increased levels of customer satisfaction must be the goals of every workshop manager, so access to reliable technical information is essential.

The GatesTechZone (www.GatesTechZone.com) is an important resource for any drive system specialist. It includes product support, technical tips, details about tools, installation and diagnostic procedures, as well as access to the Gates online catalogue. It also identifies the most common causes of failure and explains how errors can be avoided.