My weep hole has a good leak, it drained the entire recovery bottle in a one hour road trip. Anyways, gates/NAPA brand are only about $40 where a cummins water pump is over $100. Go factory or aftermarket? Thanks

For me it would depend on the warranty. New or re-manufactured? I would not mind putting an aftermarket one on my truck but thats just me. The technology of water pumps has to be good enough now that most people should make a good product. Like anything else, ill bet the cummins one and some of the aftermarket ones are just reboxed but made by the same company.

ill bet the cummins one and some of the aftermarket ones are just reboxed but made by the same company.

My same thought too why I don't jump for Cummins name brand right away.

I have read a lot of stories of short lived aftermarket parts, so even if they have a lifetime warranty there is a lot of labor involved.

 

I sucked it up and bought a Cummins pump to replace mine, I just read about fewer failures and repeat failures.

Water pumps are pretty easy. I installed a napa pump over a year ago. Good luck so far.

I have about 50k on whatever Advance sold me with no issues. If it were harder to install I might have opted for the Cummins. Takes longer to go get one than it does to install one.

For $50 I picked up a NAPA pump, 1 year warranty, brand new, we'll see what happens.

I am sure it will be fine.

Just a data point here.  The original water pump in my truck lasted 8 years.  I put in one from the auto parts (I'd like to say which chain but don't want to be advertising) and it lasted 7 years.  It was not NAPA but I've always had good luck with them - this place was closer though.

 

When the replacement failed after 7 years I went and bought another one at the same autoparts store, and after I paid for it the guy looked in the computer and said, "You bought one of these in 2008."

 

I said, "Yes, it lasted almost as ong as the OEM pump,"

 

He said, "These are waranteed for life.  Bring that one back in this box and I'll give you your money back."

 

I brought the fried one back in the box from the second replacement and he reversed the charge on my credit card.

 

Same store did the same thing with a starter motor, after lots of years.

 

Can't beat that with a stick.

I try to buy replacement parts that have a lifetime warranty.

For the price in this situation and the ease of disassembly/install I didn't worry about it and my local guys had one in stock, easy decision. The unit that came off was a cummins unit, almost 220k miles on the vehicle, I'm guessing it had been replaced once upon a time under warranty but I have no idea how old it is. Anyways, I think I found the cause for the failure...

When I got the truck it had the green stuff and it was like pond scum and there was 1/2" of dirt/rust in the overflow bottle. I drained it, flushed it with a hose till I had clear water running through and then put in zerex g-05 HOAT, the yellow stuff...that was last spring. I drained a couple gallons this time and it was loaded with scales and particles and the coolant is rust colored and not as yellowy as it should be. Come nicer weather I think I'm going to flush it again, run it with water, flush it, and possible add a coolant filter system. Dieselsite has one for $130.

http://www.dieselsite.com/19985-2011dodgecummins59l67lcoolantfiltrationsystem.aspx

I like the concept of the coolant filter! Thanks for the link. Looks like it taps into the heater hoses somewhere, based on the size of the hose supplied. Do you know if a filter is available locally at a parts store? Be nice not to have to depend on ordering one every time.

I have an issue with not being able to open my petcock on my radiator. Afraid that any more pressure on it will damage and require radiator replacement. Been pulling the lower hose for any draining. I imagine my radiator would do the same as yours.

Do most of you feel it desirable to add the Wix conditioner to the coolant? Would the filter extend coolant life between changes?

Edited February 21, 201411 yr by joecool911

I dont think it would extend coolant life. When you change the coolant, its not because its dirty most of the time. Usually its because the coolant lost its properties to prevent rust, corrosion, and the pH scale is all messed up most of the time. I am sure the filter would help if you had a problem like CTcummins had where the coolant was neglected. Now he has rust, deposits, and general junk flowing through the coolant. I would filter that system.

Just my opinion, but I would really consider doing another flush sooner than later. Don't want to take the chance of plugging off anything internally, not to mention that stuff is flowing through your heater core as well. When you do do your flush, stick a garden hose in the outlet of your heater core and back flush it, I would bet you have a fair amount of sediment trapped in there. I think your on the right track though, a good flush with a garden hose and then fill and drive to operating temp, drain, fill, drive again until you think your good. Garden hose is probably ok for the first flush since your system is so bad but depending on your water quality you may consider just buying distilled water to do the last flush or two. It's hard to say for sure without knowing the maintenance history, but poor quality water can do just as much harm as neglecting to flush the system on a regular basis.