Thread title says it all. I cannot, for the ******* life of me, center the water pump pulley. It is slightly off center and so you can see it wobble slightly. That slight wobble of the pulley translated to a fairly visible wobble of the fan. The wobble causes the care to vibrate like a back massager at any rpm over 5500.

Ideas? Thoughts? I hope to god it isn't a defect in the bolt pattern on my brand new water pump, because personally, I don't want to go through replacing it yet again.

By the way, it is definately the pulley and not the fan. I have taken the pump pulley on and off like 8 times trying to get it centered to no avail.

 

That's weird because the pulley is located not only by the 8 bolts but also by the nose of the waterpump itself.
You don't by chance have a S5 pulley on a S4 pump ( the reverse isn't possible*)?


*Or maybe it's the other way 'round, I forget.
At any rate, one series waterpump nose is larger than the other...

 

yeah, my pulley fits very tightly over the circular **** that comes off where it bolts on to. I wouldn't be able to mis-align it if I tried.

 

Mine doesn't fit that tight over the nose. It is definately an S5 pulley, as that was the original water pump on the car that I replaced.

 

I'm guessing this is some aftermarket (non-Mazda) pump and they didn't adhere very closely to the factory specs.
Most of- if not all- of the centering is done with the plug on the snout of the pump...the bolts just hold it on.

 

sounds like the part you got is designed after the S4 waterpump and they just marketed it as a universal FC pump.

 

I thought the bolt pattern was different...it is between the turbo and NA parts.

 

I don't know, I've never played around with an S4 waterpump

all I know is my water pump is just 8 evenly spaced bolt holes. it's possible the diameter of the bolt pattern might be different.

 

I am going to wash the car while I am letting it cool down, and then I'll take all that **** off to get to the water pump pulley again. I'll post some pics too.

Yeah, it was an aftermarket water pump. Honestly, I am wondering if the mounting bolt holes are off or something.

 

The bolt circle is the same, I was referring to the bolt pattern of the pump to the pump housing.

 

Something sounds off. I just replaced my WP with an aftermarket from Oriellies. I am not too thrilled with the design and excecution of the impeller, but everything lined up correctly.

Have you tried removing the WP pulley and watching the shaft spin while you rotate it by hand?

 

I bought the orielly water pump too.

Yeah, I inspected it real good before I put it on. The pump shaft and impeller spun straight, so I don't think it is that.

 

I worked that impeller over with a carbide bit in the dremel. I smoothed it out and cleaned it up quite a bit.


Something isn't right. I would go back to basics and pull that pulley off the hub and recheck it out.

 

I am wondering if the surface of the hub isn't machined level. I only have 2 bolts on my pulley so I loosened one and tightened the other and now it doesn't wobble. Another way to put it, I have 2 bolts, directly on the opposite side from one another. I loosened one slightly, shifted the pulley to be flush with the one I loosened, then tightened the one I didn't loosen all the way down, thus holding the pulley in that position.

I am having a hard time describing it, so hopefully yall understand. I am tightening the alt and air pump belt now to make sure that doesn't throw it back off, then I'll put the fan back on and recheck yet again.

 

I measured the deviation from center on the pulley at 1/64 of an inch.

It isn't off center as in the center of the pulley not matching the center of the hub, rather the surface of the hub is unlevel or something so the pulley is tilted slightly . For example, I measured from the highest spot on the face of the water pump to the edge of the backside of the pulley, and that distance changes 1/64nd of an inch as it rotates.

I am not taking the pump off, and I damn sure am not going to try and resurface the hub. I am going to try and find a spacer 1/64 of an inch thick and just align it that way.

This has got to be the dumbest ******* issue ever

 

s4 and s5 are different.

 

I think I found a break. I have a bag of 6mm washers that are....*GASP*.... 1/64 of an inch thick. I think I found my spacer.

I am going to place the washer between the pulley and hub on the lowest spot on the hub, which happens to be directly in line with a bolt hole. I plan to thread the bolt through the washer and that should make it stay pretty easy.

 

I wish you well but...
Seems to me that any rotating assembly that's so far off right out of the box is doomed to premature failure, no matter what you do.
I've never run into the problem you're experiencing so it seems likely you've just gotten a dud...I'd return it and get another.

 

Yeah, it has a lifetime warranty=Oriellies will take it back as defective.

Better than having it break and take out more parts.

 

I guess yall are right. What sucks *** though is that I have to return the part first to get a new one. That means they will have to order a new one and I'll not have a car for a few days.

Suck, Major suck.

 

A PITA admittedly but better than stranded with a bad waterpump.

Or worse.

 

No don't do that. Take the car and your receipt to them. Explain the problem Let them look at it wobble. They will likely order you a new one. When it arrives at the store they should let you do an exchange.

And by the way, the store on Forest Lane in Dallas seems to always have rotary parts in stock-my water pump was ordered from that store. In the past I picked up a rear main engine seal oil pan gaskget etc. all in stock.

But truthfully, it might be best to have it down rather than drive it like this.

Good Luck!

 

Well, I am going to see if I can specifically pinpoint the issue today. I know the pulley is deviating by 1/64 of an inch, but I want to know WHY specifically. I just took the fan off yesterday and I was working with the fan shroud and stuff still in place. Today, I am stripping it all down so I can completely remove the pulley and measure the surface of the hub.

If it turns out to be the hub, then I'll take the pump back and exchange it. I just don't want to be in the position of replacing the pump with another one and be right back down to having a wobbly pulley again.

I'll post pics.

 

The pulley deforms easily. I dropped mine a few years back, and when I installed it on the hub, it did not spin true. I suspect your problem is similar to mine. Try mounting a known good pulley on it, it shouldn't cost too much to try.

 

My ******* pully hub is crooked on the water pump shaft!

Looked in FSM, and it says I need a pulley boss remover. Yay for Special Service Tools! I checked the pulley and it is straight thankfully. That's some nice quality control on the part of Cardone industries.

*adorns 5lb hammer*