No Water Flow.

Doodad

Doodad

Active Member
Help my 1989 l 98 corvette recently had the heads redone, and blew 2 radiators After the head install, which suggests a blown gasket or leak into the exhaust side...checked for water flow with top hose off before driving car, overheated and blew radiator on way home, shut car off immediately, long story short, replaced the radiator and water pump all brand new, no thermostat, car starts runs fine, NO WATER FLOW from thermostat housing, with hose off, I put a garden hose on both ends of radiator and water flows fine! Any ideas?
 
Water pump impeller is not attached to the shaft or it's rotating in the wrong direction. Did the problem happen after replacing the WP ?
 
yeah it sounds like you have a defective water pump or,
a standard rotation water pump in a reverse rotation application
if you remove the t-stat and pour water into the intake t-stat housing ,
intakeholes.jpg

and remove the lower radiator hose,
does water flow through the engine and drain out the lower radiator hose,
from water entering the intake t-stat housing on the intake manifold

coolantq.jpg


http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/thoughts-on-cooling.149/
 
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I checked when I got the pump for a reverse rotation pump, if I put a garden hose into the thermostat housing water flows all the way out of the open inlet on the radiator intake side,, I also replaced lower rad hose in case it was collapsing, cause the old one looked like trash, seems to me that water pump isn't turning...
 
I want to put my fancy exhaust gas test to check if gasket is still good, but I need water flowing first for all obvious reasons.
 
lower radiator hoses can collapse due to pump suction if you don,t have the type with the structural spring to keep it at full diameter,
early mustangs used a separate spring that was inserted, obviously,
you can buy and insert these springs in almost any car lower hose to prevent hose blockage,
and yes the pump you have may be defective/busted internally
hw769_1.395.jpg

https://www.cjponyparts.com/lower-r...MIt9ugk5i76gIVh7zACh3lZQCuEAQYAiABEgLkp_D_BwE
 
I don't think it's the hose, will the water flow immediately? I can't remember if we left the thermostat in or not, I'll check tommorrow, my question is some water will flow(bypass) the thermostat even if the engine has not reached 180 degrees, correct? I have not let the car run for more than a few seconds to check for flow from thermo housing. Could the thermostat block all flow until it opens? A defective pump just seems unlikely, I guess I'll take it back off if I have to, but what else can I check in the meantime?
 
Ok, update, water is flowing... apparently it wasn't primed enough, but the worse news is, apparently there is oil and what appears to be coolant under the car, I can't get a fvcking break with this car, unbelievable.
 
Im on my 8th Corvette,2 were l98's so when I redid the cooling system I drilled a hole in the stat,that bleeds the trapped air out.Some stats come with the hole already there & a small brass T that slides back & forth for that reason.
main-qimg-80f9c0b093e7359c871bc3a80933662f
 
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This leak, is no where near the engine, it's directly under cooler lines..is it possible it's leaking from bottom line, and I just missed it.
 
Possible oil cooler leak,theres a hose & hard pipe diagram had that on my 85.Or #7 has a external head gasket leak had that on my 90.
sFumEP6kw9ovz0RIlDvQ7g_3.jpg
 
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AS IT IS WITH MOST PROBLEMS, YOU NEED TO START WITH A CAREFUL DETAILED INSPECTION,
you can,t fix something until you know exactly what's wrong.
I'd suggest putting the Vette up on four sturdy jack stands on a level concrete pad ,
and lifting it high enough to do a close visual inspection with a mechanics creeper and a bright drop light.
a can of brake cleaner, or throttle body cleaner to use, to remove years of accumulated road grunge certainly helps.
once you've inspected the corvette you should have a better grasp on whats needed or what went wrong.
for several decades, I had no lift in my shop,
I only had two floor jacks and 6... 12 ton jack stands to allow me to do jobs like transmission removals so you don,t need a lift to work under a car.
if you don,t have decent jack stands there are other reasonably safe and not too expensive car support options, but keep the car level and well supported,
if you visit a construction site you may find most of the scrap lumber in the dumpster will be useful in the support fabrication saving you money, but even new 2x4 lumbers not too expensive.

to fabricate wood tire supports like pictured below youll need to cut 12 ...8 foot long 2x4 into 15.5 inch lengths and two 2x8 into 15.5" lengths,
a bottle of good wood glue
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gorilla-18-fl-oz-Wood-Glue-62050/100662003
and a bag or 3" deck screws
woodst1da.jpg

vettejack1.jpg


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