tom1979

Well-Known Member
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After a reasonably long drive today I was almost home and then noticed the throttle cut out a little - temperature warning light on and diagnostics showing around 120*C ! Oh dear. Rev'd the engine a little and the temperature dropped to normal, so made the final 13 miles back in a gear lower than normal and with the heater blowing hot. Interestingly the A/C fan (which does work) did not cut in as I thought it should do in an overheat situation. I will be replacing the water pump, radiator (still has original) and thermostat (even though it's genuine and only 2 years old).

Anyway, what are people considering to be the BEST Td5 water pump? I know Pro Flow are popular, but their association with Britpart puts me off and I think the one that's in it is a Pro Flow and is only 4 years/ 30k miles old.

I remember people used to talk about the Airtex water pumps - does anyone have any experience with these?

Failing that i will just get a QH one, but just wondering if there's anything better. I'd have expected a Pro Flow one to have lasted more than 30k light miles. Thermostat I will stick with genuine, the radiator will probably be NRF unless they're not available then I'll go for a Nissens one.
 
Why replace all of those three things?
when my pump went two years ago, I only replaced the pump, no problems since.
The radiator is the original, and doesn't look great after 140k miles. Seems silly not to replace it while the coolant is out.
 
The radiator is the original, and doesn't look great after 140k miles. Seems silly not to replace it while the coolant is out.
I'm a tight Yorkshireman so I operate on the principal "If it ain't bust don't fix it!" And my rad has done 160k and counting.
But if I was going to replace the rad I'd sooner replace all the hoses.
Whatever floats your boat!;):)
 
I'm a tight Yorkshireman so I operate on the principal "If it ain't bust don't fix it!" And my rad has done 160k and counting.
But if I was going to replace the rad I'd sooner replace all the hoses.
Whatever floats your boat!;):)
I am reasonably tight too, but I need my vehicle for work and any down-time needs to be minimised. I can't be doing a water pump one day and the radiator the following week and a thermostat the following week. If it's in for work it'll get everything it's likely to need to minimise the down time. They aren't expensive items but the cost of not working far outweighs the cost of the parts.
 
I am reasonably tight too, but I need my vehicle for work and any down-time needs to be minimised. I can't be doing a water pump one day and the radiator the following week and a thermostat the following week. If it's in for work it'll get everything it's likely to need to minimise the down time. They aren't expensive items but the cost of not working far outweighs the cost of the parts.
Right, keep forgetting I am retired and have access to other vehicles.
Soz!
Best of luck! ;)
 
i hear he best water pump is Land Rover branded, even though it costs around 4 times a pro flow one. a friend's proflow pump only lasted a year so i can see the association with s*tpart
 
I fitted Meyle 53-13 220 0005 about 12 years ago and still going strong but there are other reputable brands available too, choose a manufacturer who you trust https://www.autodoc.co.uk/car-parts/oem/pem500040?search=OEN+PEM500040 IMO in this particular case genuine LR is too expensive for what it is, any local auto parts store should bring it for you on command if you dont want to pay online just say it's manufacturer part number which appears in the link... that's what i did at the store close to me(two minutes walk), they had Meyle in the central warehouse on stock and came the next day
 
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I fitted Meyle about 12 years ago as i like that brand and still going strong but there are other reputable brands available too, choose a manufacturer who you trust https://www.autodoc.co.uk/car-parts/oem/pem500040?search=OEN+PEM500040 IMO in this particular case genuine LR is too expensive for what it is, any local auto parts store can bring it for you on command if you dont want to pay online just say it's manufacturer part number which appears in the link... that's what i did cos they had Meyle in the central warehouse on stock and came in one day
I hadn't considered Meyle - I didn't know they were into cooling system parts now!
 
Well my money was on the water pump, but it appears in good condition 🤔

IMG_3873.jpeg
 
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Well my money was on the water pump, but it appears in good condition 🤔

View attachment 326326
There is a red droplet on one of the blades.
Did you use some kind of stop leak stuff on it?
I did and that is how I eventually saw the drops coming out of the little hole at the bottom of the pump that told me it was shot.
If you did what I did and never saw any drops there, then the fault is elsewhere as you now know, obvs.
You do not mention loss of coolant.
That again would have led you to look for a leak and/or head gasket problems.
I would suggest if you haven't yet put the stop leak stuff in, and the red droplet is something else, that you do so and then look hard for leaks.
Core plugs, especially the one underneath the exhaust manifold, tank split, tank cap gone fubar, etc etc.
But my leaking pump never led to the symptoms you mentioned. Which is therefore ominous sadly. :(:(

Hope you get it disgnosed and sorted.
 
There is a red droplet on one of the blades.
Did you use some kind of stop leak stuff on it?
I did and that is how I eventually saw the drops coming out of the little hole at the bottom of the pump that told me it was shot.
If you did what I did and never saw any drops there, then the fault is elsewhere as you now know, obvs.
You do not mention loss of coolant.
That again would have led you to look for a leak and/or head gasket problems.
I would suggest if you haven't yet put the stop leak stuff in, and the red droplet is something else, that you do so and then look hard for leaks.
Core plugs, especially the one underneath the exhaust manifold, tank split, tank cap gone fubar, etc etc.
But my leaking pump never led to the symptoms you mentioned. Which is therefore ominous sadly. :(:(

Hope you get it disgnosed and sorted.
The red droplet is coolant, it's never had any radweld in it. No leaks on the water pump. Before I stripped it all down I pressure tested the cooling system to 1.5 bar over 2 hours and there were no leaks. Hopefully it's the radiator or thermostat! The radiator has definitely seen better days!

IMG_3892.jpeg
 
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Hopefully this identifies the thermostat as the problem…. I poured some hot water in here and it took a VERY long time to drain through. On the new genuine thermostat it drained through almost straightaway. Hopefully it was just a stuck thermostat

IMG_3899.jpeg
 
The red droplet is coolant, it's never had any radweld in it. No leaks on the water pump. Before I stripped it all down I pressure tested the cooling system to 1.5 bar over 2 hours and there were no leaks. Hopefully it's the radiator or thermostat! The radiator has definitely seen better days!

View attachment 326392
If the rad had a leak your test would have shown it up.
So it's the stat then?
 
Hopefully this identifies the thermostat as the problem…. I poured some hot water in here and it took a VERY long time to drain through. On the new genuine thermostat it drained through almost straightaway. Hopefully it was just a stuck thermostat

View attachment 326404
Hope any wax that came out of the stat has been flushed through and isn't gunking up anything else.
If the rad had a leak your test would have shown it up.
So it's the stat then?
If you did this test, why did you think it might have been the pump?
If there were no leaks whatsoever and it maintained pressure surely this could only have been the stat?
 
Hope any wax that came out of the stat has been flushed through and isn't gunking up anything else.

If you did this test, why did you think it might have been the pump?
If there were no leaks whatsoever and it maintained pressure surely this could only have been the stat?
Whole cooling system is flushed out.

I tested the thermostat because there didn’t appear to be anything wrong with the pump
 
Before I stripped it all down I pressure tested the cooling system to 1.5 bar over 2 hours and there were no leaks.
So despite pressure testing it, and this test having shown that there were no pressure leaks , therefore nothing wrong with the gaskets, the pump, the rad, the pipes, the tank, the tank cap, etc, etc, you still stripped it down beyond the stat, and started asking questions about the pump?
Sorry, still don't get this.
Anyway it doesn't matter too much, you now have a nice spare pump and hopefully a new stat will get you back on the road. ;)
 
Anyway, thanks to this thread I went to check on the colour of my coolant.
I haven't opened the bonnet for a while but I then found out that there had been a, or more, meeces living between the bonnet lining and its lid!! I ripped it off but the rodent was no longer there.
Hmm!
but thanks for making me look!
 
So despite pressure testing it, and this test having shown that there were no pressure leaks , therefore nothing wrong with the gaskets, the pump, the rad, the pipes, the tank, the tank cap, etc, etc, you still stripped it down beyond the stat, and started asking questions about the pump?
Sorry, still don't get this.
Anyway it doesn't matter too much, you now have a nice spare pump and hopefully a new stat will get you back on the road. ;)
I’d already stripped it all. I said before I was going to replace the radiator anyway - I am not one to wait until something breaks, better to do this while the coolant is dropped.

I was asking questions about the best pump to use because at the time I assumed it was the pump failing. Failing pumps do not always leak as you said
 

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