3.3/3.8 water pump Q,s ......

Anyone ever consider this a general maintenance issue ? Meaning almost like a timing belt. Never heard of the actual water pump fail BUT have heard of numerous seal failures.....that would sure ruin my day going through Tennessee at midnite on my way up to Iowa and Minnesota about mid November.... then to Michigan then to Massachusetts THEN back to Florida. What's the best brand of pump ? Is the test of the seal drag good enuff ? I've only changed TWO of these in my days .. I'm sure there are guys here that have changed that many in two weeks time !

We used Advanced at the shop.Did tons of pumps and even on my stuff.Most were remans except where they just had new.last few I bought were in their boxes and had Mopar stamps on them.only a few companys make the pumps new.Never had any problems.Oh yeah they are easy to change.Only 2.8 3.1 GMs were easier.Rocky

Hay R ... Do you test to determine seal quality ? Ez to change ? What's your time factor ? That small bolt at 10 o'clock is a PITA !!

Never tested.Just bought them and replace them.Easy swap with a 1/4 inch air rachet.I do use antisieze on the bolts.Worst part is getting the belt off and removing the pump pulley.My Concocrd I could do it in like 1/2 hour.Rocky

doc, i had a 3.3 pump failure once going down the road. no noise, just all of a sudden, the battery light came on, and the temp shot up to hot hot. got towed home, tore apart, then discovered it wasn't a shaft failure, but a bearing failure. the shaft poked almost out of the housing, but was contained by the impeller. no prior noises, but it WAS the original pump. had 152k on it. when it was apart, it had marks where the impeller had slightly gouged the internal housing, so i cleaned out the shavings, then flushed the system good both ways to get out the remnants so there would be nothing floating through the system to cause trouble down the road. like rocky said, toughest part of the job was the removal/install of the belt. took me about an hour, but i had to unreel the garden hose and wind it back up after flushing. this was on a caravan.

X ... What you went through concerns me big time especially 1000 miles from base. I've got 184k miles on mine(runs like a top) and certainly don't want to run into any issues when on a 7000 mile cruise. You can fry a motor over this ! No problems for me with the belt ... Mine was that bolt at 10 o'clock. ..... What's the vote for the best pump ?

IIRC that pump is new.Bought many from Advance and never a problem.used them all the time at the shop.Had them on our personal rides also.Just remember that only a few people make them.Some I bought even had the Mopar mark on thme.Even remans we used no problems for the most part.Rocky

i just buy NEW pumps instead of re-mans. just a couple bucks more, and those aren't expensive by any means. as rocky said, there are only a few manufacturers.
doc, at 180k on the original, put a pump on ! and while you are at it, might not be a bad idea to put an idler pulley and a belt tensioner on it as well, while it's apart. heck, get a new belt too, unless you know for sure the belt isn't original.

X ... I don't have a maintenance record on this van but I got it with 110 on the clock .... So I'm going to assume that it is an original WP. This will be done before any big trip ...,and I HEAR about changing the idler and tensioner. Anyone ever buy those eBay kits that includes all that ?