Need New SB Water Pump, Again!

Took the car for a spin tonight and noticed green fluid spraying up onto the windshield. Got back to the garage and found fluid pouring out of the weep hole on the pump. I thought this may have been an issue from swapping out a 195 thermostat to a 180 unit last weekend. So I removed the pulleys and heard a SCREETCH noise from the pump when I rotated it back and fourth.
This is the second NAPA pump in four years. The WOT shift points are 5800rpms. What pump do you recommend that may last longer than two years and 1500 miles?
Thanks

not sure on a brand as pumps tend to be very reliable (in my exp). I'm wondering if the impeller moved foreward & is rubbing the body or rearward & is hitting the t cover smooth recess (there's alot of distance on the 2nd one so I would guess the pump body. here's a BTT for you

My last unit from NAPA moved and rubbed into the housing. I am thinking like you that this one did it too.
I am looking at the Milodon or the March water pumps IF they are worth it.
Thank you

Get the heavy duty pump with the bigger shaft and ribs instead of holes. Police car application was what I asked for years ago...

my new, not rebuilt, napa sb pump is shot. 2 years old and maybe a 1000 miles. i got on it on the onramp and the bearings let go. i was going to use the life time warranty to pick one up tomorrow, now you have me worried that they are junk. my junkyard one lasted 20+ year before it gave out.

I'd buy an Edelbrock if you can stomach the cost. Next choice would be a Milodon or Flow Cooler, although I have not ran either one of those. The Milodon resembles the mopar heavy duty "police" style pumps with the ribs cast into it.

I used to buy NAPA water pumps for my daily driver (Chevy),and they would fall apart every few years - mostly in the summer. Same thing with their clutch fans. I now get my clutch fans from CARQUEST as they seem to last much longer.

This NAPA unit also went out right after I got on it!
What causes the internals to move towards the housing and to cause this?

I have attached a picture showing what happened to my last NAPA unit and I am assuming that this one has done the same thing.

I am looking at this Milodon #16250 from Summit. Does this look like the HD/Police unit?

Thanks everyone!

This is a picture of the existing pump that will be replaced (NAPA/Tru-Flow #43026P) and the previous unit. The orange unit has holes in the front and the NAPA unit has ribs.

This is the Milodon #16250 from Summit. I may purchase it before the day is over if there are no known issues with it.

Thanks everyone!

hope this is just an issue with SB pumps. i just replaced my RB one with a NAPA unit.....

My FlowKooler wp has been on three engines in the last thirteen years and is still going strong.

I just ordered the Milodon #16250 water pump and the Milodon high flow 180 thermostat. I just replaced the thermostat last week with a standard NAPA 180 but I read that a HF pump needs the HF thermostat. I needed a few bucks to get the free shipping, so I ordered the Milodon 180 thermostat too.

I am assuming the pump went bad or that my belt tension was too tight. I put on a Powermaster (120a) alternator which took a little more belt tension to keep it quiet. I wonder if either was the actual issue.

Thanks to everyone!

Years ago 1993, I yanked a 360 out of a Doba to put into my Dart. Put a brand new TRW HD pump on it. Last 20+ years. Heck, it outlasted TRW. But I bet it wasn't sourced from overseas either.

I recently bought a new pump for my daughter's exploder, got Gates from Rockauto. For a 70 and up LA I'd use GATES 43026P, $22 from RA, has the impeller disc on it, lifetime warranty, new.

Most bearing failures are due to over tightened belts, followed by miss-aligned pulleys. Looking at your picture you has a corrosion/cavitation problem, you need to very aggressively flush the cooling system out, even get a sacrificial anode.

Skeptic,
That picture was taken three years ago before my last pump install. Due to the corrosion issues, I flushed out the system and added RP Ice. Last weekend when I pulled the thermostat, the fluid in the intake was very clean. The fluid that came out of the radiator was very clean too. I will flush it again before making these changes.

I will also loosen the belt this time a little bit just to make sure.
Thank you.

Justin,
I just called Summit to change my order from the Milodon unit to the Flow Kooler 1700. I made the previous order and then read your post. Then I spent some time reviewing the FK information.

Thank you.

Note: FlowKooler confirmed (per email) that a HF thermostat should be used for maximum flow rate.

I've had a Flo-Kooler water pump on my car for 16 yrs now, still going strong (knock on wood). Whenever I do a new pump or change my anti-freeze I always add a can of water pump lub to the rad.

Skeptic is giving you some good advice. Bearing wear (& impeller shaft getting into the housing) is 99% a belt issue. CORROSION (and/or cavitation erosion) is a function of the overall cooling system design & the coolant you're using. FYI-I've laboratory tested Royal Purple's Purple Ice and when used as directed (may need more than one bottle with deionized water) it does a good job at preventing corrosion (fyi-my company used to make Purple Ice for Royal Purple).

Man you guys must have bad luck or doing something wrong.At the shop we used tons of remans and they went on car driven every day unlike most here.Had very few problems.Only time we went new was customer asked or they came new only.Installed a bunch on SB abd some on BB mopars and basically no problems.My 65 I did use a Miliodn BB pump just because the housing etc is aluminum.My kids had like 3 or 4 SB abd a BB and all got reman pumps.truck went at least 30K in a few years.If you go thru that many pumps something is wrong.Rocky

I have used the Purple Ice now for the last three years. Every time I change thermostats or drain the radiator I put another full bottle in. I have seen the difference that it can make and I will be picking up another bottle tonight for this repair.

I will give my belt the 1/2"-3/4" or so slack this time around. I know that it was tighter than this when I took it off last night. (When I installed the alternator, I kept getting the belt tighter until it quit making noise.)

Thanks for the reply.

EDIT: I wonder if a new belt might help get a better grip? It is a solid v-belt of unknown age.

With the alternator, you may want to fab up an idler pulley between the crank and alternator pulley to get the belt to wrap around the pulleys with more surface contact, then the belt won't have to be as tight.

Excellent!

UPDATE!

For those of you who may have been worried about the NAPA water pumps, my NAPA pump was not the issue! My issue was not the belt tension either which was a relief.
The actual problem was,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

DOH!!!! The spring that I pulled out of another lower radiator hose about 4 years ago and put it inside of my lower hose made its way into the water pump. I bent the ends to try and keep it in place, but it worked its way into the pump.

I decided to replace the NAPA pump with the FlowKooler #1700. I also replaced the standard thermostat with a Moroso High Flow 180 degree unit (HF unit was recommended per FK), and I also replaced that spongy lower radiator hose with a Gates piece. The hot weather is returning this week so I will start testing out this new water pump.

WOW! I am surprised it didn't lock up or at least make horrendous noise!
Flowcoolers are great pumps, I run one on my 440.

No noise, just coolant spraying out of my hood and onto the ground.

clearly another case of cheap over-seas made garbage! oh, wait a minute....

Damn! Sounds like you are set now. If you do another spring (I would) be sure as you have already guessed to expand/curl it in the hose tight (er!). I would drill a very small hole in the stat (1/32" is plenty). helps greatly with getting air out/hot spots & lets you make pretty much a complete fill the first time & takes longer to select the bit than it does to drill it

After what this spring did to my last pump, I decided not to add another spring. I did replace the lower hose, but I dont want to take a chance of this happening again unless I see an issue with this new lower hose. The hose that I pulled off was very soft. This new Gates is stiffer.

I drilled my last 195 stat with 4 holes which may have been too many. The engine took forever to get up to temperature and I am now wondering if this was the reason why. I could idle it for 5 minutes and then after that, it would take about 4-5 miles of driving to get the engine up to temp. This new stat only takes a few minutes (5-7 minutes or so) of idling and the engine is up to temp. I did not drill any holes in this one because I have an overflow tank that makes filling the radiator very simple.

Thank for the replies.