Water pump pulley seized...need help!

[blueprotegelx]

Story:
I goto college and while in school I live my car sit at home to save from paying insurance. I started the car up today to make sure everything was okay since this semester will end in a couple weeks and I need to start working again. Unfortunately when I started the car, it turned over and shut off. I tried it again and gave it gas assuming that since it's been sitting it just needed some extra help. This time there was a loud squeaking noise, so I had my g/f's dad start the car so I could be under the hood to inspect. He started the car and I noticed the noise was coming from the belt area. Long story short, my water pump pulley was not moving. So I assume the car was not staying running long b/c of all the work the crank and alternator was having to do in order to spin the belt around the seized water pump pulley. Does this mean the water pump is bad, meaning the bearing inside the water pump is bad and I need to replace it? Roughly 93K miles on car and as of right now I have a feeling I will be replacing all belts, water pump and coolant flush?
Thanks guys

[Tom03es]

Sounds like you'll be doing a timing belt, water pump, coolant change when you get home from school! Yeah! Just be glad the pump seized on you in the garage and not in traffic somewhere.

The water pump on my Saturn seized one day. the bearings for the pump just let go and the impellers of the pump dug themselves into the engine block.

[blueprotegelx]

Sounds like you'll be doing a timing belt, water pump, coolant change when you get home from school! Yeah! Just be glad the pump seized on you in the garage and not in traffic somewhere.

yeah that's what i figured! her dad was like well maybe you can take the pulley off the water pump and spray with some wd40, i was like yeah i do not want to risk that and the bearing inside be seized as well and mess my motor up!

Pro's that I'll be replacing my timing belt, etc:
Install my AWR Front and Rear Motor Mount, Intake Manifold that I still need to port. While doing coolant flush I can fix my temp sensor, and since i'll have the udp off I can order an aftermarket udp. haha. sweetness.

Cons:
I don't have much money....haha

[blueprotegelx]

i'm back home for the summer!

i worked on my car yesterday and adjust the alternator and took the belt off. the belt is ruined so i was hoping that was the problem. but as i turned the water pump pulley it made a "whearing" sound, if that makes since. i am going to put a new belt on for the time being to see if that will solve the problem temporarily and go from there! only problem right now is that my power steering bolt to adjust it is stripped from previous owner so i need to tap it and put a new one in.

any advice on the whearing sound from the water pump? the noise is not that loud.

[ForceFed]

Yes..The pump has failing bearings.
Fix it immediately before you break a belt, and not notice and trash your motor from overheating.

[blueprotegelx]

so by just throwing a belt on there and driving it til it goes out would be making things worse! that's what i keep telling people, but they've been telling me to just throw a new belt on there and drive it til the pump goes out.

[ForceFed]

It wont make it worse unless you lose the balt while say...driving down the freeway..and your Temp Skyrockets all of the sudden,overheats the motr, waprs the head or ruins the head-gasket.
I would just fix it now and save yourself the What-ifs down the road.

[blueprotegelx]

looks like i have to fix my it anyhow. i put a new belt on for alternator/waterpump and started the car. first off the water pump smoked and this time the alternator pulley would not budge, THEREFORE, burning my brand new belt into pieces! sweetness...so my bro knows a guy at a parts store who's going to get my timing belt, water pump, new accessory belts, and get a price on brand new alternator. but if it's to expensive i know of a junk yard who has a alternator w/ warranty for 50 bucks. looks like i may have all new parts.

there was a loud squeeling sound as well. i'm curious if it was coming from the alternator or the water pump. i did not have time to tell b/c as soon as i started the car and went to check it all out it was smoking from the pump so i shut it off real quick so i couldn't tell.

[blueprotegelx]

now that i think about it, it was probably the water pump since the pulley was moving and the alternator was not. sweetness for all new parts...

[ForceFed]

Sounds to me like the ALternator was the culprit the whole time.

Might just want to replace that and the belt and see if it solves it.
No need to replace a WP if its not bad.

[ForceFed]

I might have an extra alternator as well.

[blueprotegelx]

do you really think i should just replace the alternator for now?

at what point should i decide to do water pump?

[blueprotegelx]

do you think just maybe the smoke was due to the burning of the belt and not water pump?

[ForceFed]

do you think just maybe the smoke was due to the burning of the belt and not water pump?
Absolutely.

[blueprotegelx]

i will give it a whirl! so if it does work it'll save me a lot of money and time from doing timing belt/water pump!

i'm not sure if this matters but the water pump pulley was not moving in the beginning and now it's the alternator...

[ForceFed]

Can you grab the Water pump pulley and turn it?
Does it feel normal?
Was it Ever Physically locked up where you couldn't turn it?

[blueprotegelx]

yes...water pump pulley was locked up the first time. when i started the car the first time the pulley did not move. after taking the belt off, and i think i sprayed pb blaster not sure, on the pulley and it moves freely now.

[shane02pro5]

Disconnect your bottom radiator hose and see if it pushes out coolant when you turn it

[blueprotegelx]

Disconnect your bottom radiator hose and see if it pushes out coolant when you turn it

what will this prove out of curiosity?

[blueprotegelx]

going to pick up a alternator and work on car.

i have this bad feeling that i will be replacing my water pump. i wish i had some of you guys living close by me who knew what they were doing!

[blueprotegelx]

i put new alternator on and the car fired right up! the water pump was not squeeling or making any noise. i think i might have been freaking out. the water pump pulley was locked up, but i sprayed it with pb blaster day before and let it sit, so maybe that loosened it up. i was not sure if i did or not but my g/f's dad reminded me that i did. i'm going to try and get my aftermarket water temp gauge working today. i think the sensor is bad on it.

[blueprotegelx]

i now have insurance on the car and got to drive it today. ran great, had a little sputtering i believe due to condensation from sitting so long, rotors were a little rusty but after driving it it was smooth. i'm gonna call a few junkyards and see if they have any clusters or if they can sell me the stock water temp needle and all....unless someone has one????

[Tom03es]

Glad it worked out for you. (http://www.*************.com/index.php)

[bazooka joe]

how many miles on the car? glad to hear you're back up and running!(cool)

[Riken]

try (http://www.*************.com/showthread.php?t=1626) ebay for the cluster.

[Salmon_Rob]

i will be selling my cluster (http://www.*************.com/register.php?referrerid=8) in july

[blueprotegelx]

how many miles on the car? glad to hear you're back up and running!(cool)

car has 93,260 miles....crazy! soon it will need new water pump, timing belt and all...just not right now b/c i don't have finances.

be really nice if i could find a water temp needle instead of buying cluster. if i have to resort to buying a cluster i will try harder to hook up my aftermarket water temp gauge. can not seem to figure out why it's not working. it illuminates fine....

[Tom03es]

Look HERE (http://www.*************.com/index.php) for said "needle in a haystack"

[Chawk]

it sounded like something was jammed on what of your sprocket/pulleys. I think you should have been able to visibly see something jamming it up. I had my power steering sprocket stick on me, and it made a horrible screaming noise. then smoked as well. there was a bolt that had come loose and jammed the sprocket.

I also think that you can hold off on changing the timing belt. take off the valve cover and inspect it. if it is fine i would leave it alone. I changed my belt after 207,000 miles and it still looked fine. These rubber timing belts are made with better materials these days and they can sometimes last the life of the engine.

[jimmybrite]

I also have a pulley that's slowly dying, odd thing is my car's been parked for a while and all of a sudden I start it up the belt is screaming and theres smoke coming from the engine.Looks like i'll have to raise the engine a bit it's hard to reach.

[blueprotegelx]

I also have a pulley that's slowly dying, odd thing is my car's been parked for a while and all of a sudden I start it up the belt is screaming and theres smoke coming from the engine.Looks like i'll have to raise the engine a bit it's hard to reach.

my pulley was actually fine. the belt and alternator needed to be replaced, and with the pulley i actually sprayed some wd40 on it and let it soak overnight. the next morning i moved with my hand and it moved freely. i've been driving my car for last two months and no problems at all! try soaking it before you jack your engine up etc