2001 waterpump failed and subsequent overheating

[dancojax]

Nancy's 2001 RT/10 instantly overheated to 'peg' the temp guage and instantly 'puked' out a bunch of coolant.
She slowed and shifted to 6th gear and coasted to a stop. After cooling, we added about 6 quarts of water and let it sit -- no leaks.
We thought it might be a bad factory hose clamp, so we replaced it with an 'airplane' type clamp.
When she drove it, it ran very hot at road speeds, but seemed only a little higher than normal at low speeds.
The dealer replaced the waterpump due (reportedly) to the failure of the impeller on the shaft. Claimed the impeller turned at slow speed, but not at higher RPMs.
Now, the engine runs at a temperature considerably higher than before all this mess.
Car now has about 5,000 miles.
ADVICE NEEDED!!!!!

 

[Tom Sessions]

Call me at work tomorrow and i'll see if I can help you figure it out.910-799-4210

 

[SneakyPete]

dancojax,

You got mail!

 

[treynor]

I had exactly the same failure in my 2001 -- the problem is the plastic impeller cracks at the pump shaft, so its grip on the shaft is much lower than it should be. When you rev the motor, the additional force on the impeller starts it spinning on the shaft. Once spinning, it tends to continue, so the coolant is no longer circulating and the engine overheats.

I managed to overheat my RT's engine that way

Fortunately, all was forgiven when I had Doug Levin rebuild it from the main bearings all the way up to the rockers

 

[jimandela]

Treynor,
what month and year...inside driver door jam.
was yours made? Have we been able to narrow down the time frame
for the defective impellers?
Mine was built in Nov. 2000. And to date (knock on wood) with
5000 miles and a few good throttle runs. no spike in temp
and no problems....

Maybe we can get it down to just a few weeks of bad impellers so that guys that fall into those weeks can get keep a closer eye on there temps. In hopes it spikes during a controlled run.
Near the house or dealer as oppose to a road trip, which would totally ****!!!
just an idea
Nice car!!!
JIM