Yeah I like worm clamps too. I've fixed a lot of stuff with em, Well the pump came in and has little tiny nicks on the gasket mating surface, Nothing crazy though. I guess the OE GM stuff is made in Japan now and all the AC delco PRo stuff is made in China? I guess the serp belts look kind of glazed over new? Guess there is no need to test the thermostat since it's made in Japan before installing. It was probably tested at the factory.

Any ideas on what to use to help install the metal gaskets it came with? that way I am not fighting it. I have some super 77 adhesive spray.

Hey since PO installed an aftermarket radiator that's bigger, is that going to kill the water pump sooner rather than later? DO I need some kind of heavy duty pump now? Guess I should've asked this question sooner, but I have worked on cars before where installing new parts did nothing, because of another wrench in the works that was killing new parts.

 

Hello all,

Got it all off and it looks like I may have gotten a used water pump. there is a green coolant looking stuff in there. also saw dust inside where the rad hoses go into? take a lookie







Is this thing used? did rock auto screw me? Also I noticed that this AC Delco pump is made in china. Is this pump going to fail sooner rather than later? I am also worried that this pump might not be able to handle the NEW Rad which is an aftermarket MAde in china probably low PSI. Will the different pressure cap kill the pump sooner rather than later?

aLSO i NOTICED double radiator ? DId PO just lazily throw the new RAD in without taking out the old or is what that thing I can see through the grill just a guard of some sort? How does this work exactly? does air blow through the first radiator or radiator looking thing and hit the rad?




ALso I left my coolant ports open in the air for one night and some rust started building up in there. Is this a big deal? See the befores and afters.





AFTERS






You can see inside the hole, crapped build up over night. Is it just a little surface rust right there at the front it did it buildup more inside?

I also dropped one of the gaskets and it got bent, I just cleaned it off and used it to install the pump, but I am having second thoughts about this pump. I wonder if that gasket will work now. I was kind of in a hurry to get it installed.

IF someone could be so kind as to get back to me sooner rather than later I'd appreciate it...

Also read the post above too, no one responded to it

And yes the old water pump appears to have been leaking heavily from the weep hole, though I cannot see the weep hole on either pump. FYI future information seekers

And I couldn't figure out where the engine coolant drain block is because I have no picture to reference. I ended up just flushing the garden hose water from the block using a hose and funnel with a pvc pipe. Use some rubber like from an old bicycle tire to get a good seal. Then flush the garden hose water out of the block with your solution. (I just did 50/50 AF/water)





Thank you...

 

That's a lot to unpack and I don't have a lot of time at the moment.

The size of the radiator has no effect on the pump unless it's clogged and not flowing enough. A larger or higher flowing radiator won't hurt the pump.

The radiator you see in front of the radiator is the air conditioning condenser. It looks just like a radiator but maybe a little bit skinnier. And yes, air blows through it before getting to the radiator.

The dirt inside the water pump just looks like rough casting. It's fine. If you want to know if a piece like that is used you have to look at the bolt holes and see if there is a scar from where the bolt head torqued down and cut into the aluminum a little bit. Look at your old one and you'll see what I mean.

Not everything that comes from China is automatically junk. There are good companies that manufacture there and hold tight tolerances. If it's an ACDelco it should be fine.

Just drive it and run it through some heat cycles. Check it for leaks a few times just like you would after doing any repair. You did use Dexcool antifreeze right?

 

Yeah I used Dex cool AF. 50/50 mix. Like I said above I Was curious and used a garden hose with very high pressure to jet water into those engine coolant ports. But all that came out was pristine coolant. I then attempted to flush all that garden hose water with the 50/50 mix. It worked I suppose. Probably have a little bit heavier water mix in the system which is OK since I am in CA hot climate year round.

He has got a 19 PSI rad cap on there. But online I see this van calls for 15 PSI cap. Should I stop driving and swap it out? It's got a weird cap too, so Where the heck would I even get another cap for this rad? it;s cast chinesium no branding. I guess this rad could probably handle that pressure, but can the rest of the system handle it?

 

I would use the appropriate radiator cap. Swap that out if you can find one that fits. Rad caps aren't universal but there are only so many sizes. You might be able to find the same size cap. It'll probably be alright the way it is but I don't know.

I never use the 50/50 mix. It's a lot more expensive and you have no way to thicken it back up if you do have to put water in it.

It's better to have a thicker mix than a thinner mix even in warm climates. I start with an amount of concentrate then the same amount of water. I repeat that with the amounts getting smaller as it fills. That way I stay close to 50% but I know I'm always thicker rather than thinner. I don't measure it too close but pour it from similar containers and eyeball it with any error going in favor of the concentrate.

 

And use distilled water to mix, not your local tap water

 

I used 50/50 distilled and concentrate yeah. Unfortunately garden hose water is pretty tough to keep clean. Guess I shouldn't have done to do the flush. WE do have a household water filter for all outlets though. The manual actually says it's perfectly OK to use tap water. "Clean drinkable water" is what it says.

OK. maybe I'll get a cheap test kit from prestone to check the coolant and make sure it's good.

Does anybody know the official cooling system PRESSURE spec for the chevy express 2015 2500 ? or the max pressure that can be used when pressurizing the system to look for leaks? I couldn't find it in the charm.li manual. This info will tell me a lot more about the urgency or need of getting that cap replaced.

 

Oh okay, I thought you were talking about the bottled 50/50 mix. That stuff is a rip off at nearly the same price per bottle. I guess it could be handy after an unexpected roadside repair but other than that I just don't get it.

I wouldn't worry about a little hose water in there.

You might be able to take that mystery cap into a good parts store and see if you can match it up with one there.

 

My last two radiator purchases said if tap water is used it will void the warranty. Minerals/electrolysis/corrosion is the issue.

 

OK here is what PO did. HE bought this radiator and stuck it on the van


This is a high performance UNIVERSAL racing 4 core radiator that comes with a 19 PSI cap. I assume he did this because I went to Oreillys looking for a new cap and they told me that it couldn't be done and a the OEM radiator was $300. He must've gotten free shipping. The guys at oreillys said it probably won't hurt anything. They further said that this radiator is a larger one and may require higher pressure to run it. I went to autostone and they told me I would need to either get a high flow water pump or get the OEM radiator. What to do you guys think? Does this bigger radiator REALLY require a higher pressure cap? My coolant resovoir has 15 on it.

The other weird thing is that the owners manual for the chevy express says the coolant lasts 150k miles and doesn't need to be changed until then. How did the radiator and water pump fail if the coolant was still good? Maybe someone added the green stuff in the system and it created the DEX-KILL situation? should I cut open the water pump to examine the failure and if so how to do it? I am worried this crap might've eaten away at my head gasket and possibly cause a head gasket failure MUCH MUCH sooner than later, a situation I don't want to find myself in. Even the severe maintenance schedule doesn't require changing the coolant till 150k. I just don't see how both water pump and radiator could fail so early.