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Leaky B230 water pump

mhgreen

Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2015
Location
Portland, OR
'89 240 na

Replaced water pump on 04/04/19.

Volvo OE pump. Now leaking. it's hard to tell from these particular photos but this morning there was a puddle of coolant underneath the alternator & a lil bit puddled on top of the WP. Maybe leaking from top & back? Only 22 months old.... I actually had it installed at a local indie shop. What kind of lifespan should I be looking at with the WP/gaskets & seals?

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I am pretty sure I repalced the OG water pump on my 85 240 in Fall of 2019. It was not leaking - just did it with the timing belt. The new HEPU unit I installed hasn't leaked since.

did the shop use a VOLVO rubber o-ring for where the WP meets the block? I'd bet that's what's leaking, and the consensus is that only a genuine VOLVO o-ring for that seal is worth using.
 
did the shop use a VOLVO rubber o-ring for where the WP meets the block? I'd bet that's what's leaking, and the consensus is that only a genuine VOLVO o-ring for that seal is worth using.

I'm not sure but he pretty much always goes OE unless I ask for something else. I'm kind of thinking it's worth asking if he'll redo the seals. I just can't imagine those should be weeping after ~ 15,000 miles? I haven't done much driving this past year.
 
absolutely it should not be leaking.

if it's not the seal, then the gasket is either seated poorly or the mating surface wasn't cleaned sufficiently before mounting the pump.
 
There is a "trick" to installing these WP's: you absolutely have to put and keep upward pressure on it while tightening the nuts / bolts to affix the WP to the engine.

Whatever, take it back to him as a "come back" for him to reseal for free: his fault, not yours.
 
Whatever, take it back to him as a "come back" for him to reseal for free: his fault, not yours.

This is the plan. He's a great guy, I don't think it'll be a problem. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't making any faulty assumptions about the life of those seals to begin with.
 
Those 2 gaskets are are pinched easily during installation.
I had the top gasket fail after about 6 months of no issues. I returned to my car after work and there was a puddle of coolant under the car.
You can loosen the pipe a bit if you can get to the bolt under the exhaust manifold to give you a bit of wiggle room.

People tend to suggest OE Volvo for the top seal especially and most aftermarket seals that come with the pumps are crap.
 
THat upper rubber o ring between the head and top of water pump gasket looks like it's pushed out not all the way in the correct spot improperly installed to me. Or pump is pushed up to much and squishing the rubber o ring too much and broke it. Installing water pump on redblocks is one of the trickiest things to learn how to do properly. Course I had the Auto Doc teach me so...

Like I've said before I never use any tool to pry the pump up ever. I just use my hands attached to my arms them to my body. For one you can't really pry the pump up straight up but you can pull it straight up with your hands.


 
Unbold the pump, take it off, install the new seals.
Now lift the car slightly, put a beam under the pump, carefully lower the car so the pump seals wel and is flush, then tighten the bolds.

Why a beam: If you do not use a beam to get it flush, the amount of force to do it by hand (pressing the rubber seal flush) is almost impossible.
 
Somebody cleaned the leaked oil goop off the area which softens the seal so it leaks. Noteworthy that it didn't leak for 15k miles.
Check out sbabbs pic above
 
THat upper rubber o ring between the head and top of water pump gasket looks like it's pushed out not all the way in the correct spot improperly installed to me. Or pump is pushed up to much and squishing the rubber o ring too much and broke it.

Technically, it's not a true O-ring. More like a hollow mushroom.

Now lift the car slightly, put a beam under the pump, carefully lower the car so the pump seals wel and is flush, then tighten the bolds.

Doesn't matter how much force you put on it. It's only going to go as far as the slotted holes in the pump allow it to. Trying to compress the seal farther by lowering the car onto it will only risk breaking off the studs. And if the slots do somehow let you go too far, then the round holes in the pump will no longer line up with the bolt holes in the block.

The whole thing is designed to squish the "dome" of the seal a prescribed amount. Too little, it leaks; too much, it splits. Good rubber will take the squish and remain pliable, keeping pressure on the underside of the head, and not leak. The garbage seals we usually get turn hard after a short time, and don't maintain the same rubbery pressure, so they leak.

For installing, I have never had any trouble just levering the pump up with a short prybar, using the crank pulley as a fulcrum, just enough to get the bolts in the round holes. With everything finger tight, push some more until the round holes are against the bolt threads, or the studs are at the ends of the slots. That's as far as it's going to go, so tighten everything to spec.

upper-seal.jpg
 
I pry off the alt bracket with a pry bar and a socket to make up the gap when the slotted studs are nutted but loose, carefully install the bolts, when it is in position I tighten them, the o/ring seal will degrade over time, it's not the best set up/design.
 
Somebody cleaned the leaked oil goop off the area which softens the seal so it leaks. Noteworthy that it didn't leak for 15k miles.
Check out sbabbs pic above

Good point. Since the water pump install a couple years ago i dealt with leaky front seals. Cleaned up some of the oil after the seals were sorted out. The reason I knew I had a front end leak was because of oil sitting on top the WP. Didn't consider the collateral damage as culprit.
 
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