I just replaced my previous Gates pump 2 months ago and now my new Gates pump is starting to fail also. The previous Gates pump lasted 3yrs (20k miles) and started leaking around the neck. It appears this new one might be doing the same thing but haven’t got it removed yet. I have a full OEM timing and pump kit in my shopping cart but was wondering if anybody else has been plagued with similar issues and maybe think something else is leading to the premature failures?

I did a full drain, refill, burp and used OEM gasket as well as proper torque. Serpentine belt is a new Gates. Can’t imagine the serpentine tensioner would be failing and causing excessive tension. I replaced it 4 years 30k miles ago. No squeal or other symptoms. Any ideas other than throw an OEM pump in there and pray?

 

its super unlikely but have you checked if youre lifting the head. On other platforms ive noticed that if you lift the head it can cause all sorts of weird issues in the cooling system.

 

Gosh, I would hope not. I have ARP head studs, my car has been running fine with no other signs of issues. The coolant is green and clean, the oil looks clean, no odd smells from the exhaust, and the reservoir has only lost a little coolant so far. If the head was lifting I would suspect I would see a lot of other signs, right?

The coolant I am loosing seems to be dripping onto the serpentine as it flings it around. The last time it was at the neck of the water pump it was leaking, so either crack on the pump or a bad seal at that connection point. I would think if the head was lifting I would get leaks from the back of the pump gasket, it would be more towards the back side of the timing belt and I would have other symptoms.

 

my car blew up my rad while on the dyno. pump was fine. IIRC evo9 pumps are hard to find, but evo8 pumps are still available

 

Well, not good news. I did a compression and leak down test and have bad results. I have air I hear between come cylinders so could be a bad gasket so getting some hydrocarbon test strips for the coolant. I forgot to disconnect the intake pipe to see if maybe it was just leaking between the valves but 50% loss on cylinder 2, 35% on 3, and 13% on 4 isn't what I was hoping to see.