DSpecial waterpump seals

forumnoreason

forumnoreason

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Just mucking around with the DSpecial and the seal on the waterpump decided to kamikaze. I have been looking through threads for a lead on dismantling and replacing a seal with no success and wanted to know if anyone has done one, is there anything specific about pump seals etc. This car never goes anywhere so I guess that was a contributing factor.
You can see where the seal got mangled on the right, spat alot of coolant on idle but I switched off the motor pretty quickly.
 

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Was it the rotating seal that failed or just the gasket between pump and housing?

Gaskets are easily made from a sheet of cork. The rotating seal is problematic to change. You have to press the pump shaft out of the pully or the impeller. If it's a Citroen original pump then I believe they use a weird size of seal that isn't widely available. New pumps are pretty cheap in the grand scheme and save a lot of hassel.
 
If it is an original pump (steel pulley), with some modification a readily available washing machine seal works very well. The bearings are also readily available. Both the seal and bearings should be off the shelf from CBC.

The modification involves pressing out the cast iron seal seat and turning up a new seat (use araldite to fit into the housing for a good seal) which takes the new ceramic seat insert, which comes with the new seal set. From memory, the impellor also needs to be machined to make space for the new seal. Some mucking around, but once done everything can be replaced easily next time round.

Again, from memory you need to take care machining the impellor so the moving seal fits firmly and has the right amount of spring pressure against the stationary ceramic seat.

The 3 pulley pumps use a larger bearing, which is also readily available
 
Right I hink I'll have a go at dismantling it and take a little drive down to CBC! Faulksy you can just see where the rubber seal fouled up. I think because I never drive this car it just didn't like being left dormant for too long. It only gets short warm ups to run some fluid through it. Might be dodge repro crap problem too of course!
 
I am not familiar with that pump so a generic answer. As said a bearing place should be able to give you a seal and a bearing. The bearing are usually a 'cassett' type with an integral dual bearing and shaft. You might need to cut the shaft to length with a grinding wheel if the other dimensions are OK. Proceed slowly and carefully with the dismantling.
EG
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Interesting that Repco was my go-to place for water pump seals for any application back in the good ol'days. But times have changed. ;)
Jaahn
 
It is very hard to tell from your pictures, but make sure that the water pump is an original with the steel pulley (aftermarket ones are aluminium with a steel boss on the shaft, I think). It will also have Citroen part numbers in the pump body casting. The aftermarket ones cannot be rebuilt. I don't expect many Ds still getting around with an original pump, unless they have already been modified and rendered 're-buildable'...

If you are rebuilding an original pump you will need a press and take care supporting the pump body around the impeller side otherwise you risk smashing the casting. Also the impeller will break if it can't clear the press supports as you push it through...
 
The aftermarket pumps use an integral shaft bearing. The original setup is a plain shaft with the impeller cast in place, running in two standard sealed bearings, one small and one large with a tubular spacer between them. Retained in the pump body with a circlip at the pulley end. The shaft is held in place with the press-fit pulley which also determines the seal preload and impeller clearance.
 
palyasm said:
Replacement pump is your best option.

The aftermarket one can’t be rebuilt. I tried years ago and attempting to press it apart smashes the housing and pulley.
Click to expand...
I've found the same thing with CX pumps. The aluminium housing shatters before you can get the pulley off.
 
Thanks for input guys, I might have a tinker but this all sounds pretty conclusive, back to the Germans for more astronomical postage.... still there's no one here holding onto them here I believe. I bought some spheres for the GS recently, quoted €170 postage from trusted supplier and ended up going with another crew for €112. I really have to max out the weight to make it half economical too so one off orders not possible. Hopefully the spheres are relatively 'fresh'.
 
The original pumps are rebuildable. I've done it dozens of times. At one point, I had about a dozen housings hard anodized before I rebuilt them because eventually the hose connection on the housing corrodes to the point you can't get a good seal with the lower radiator hose. When the supply of original seals ran out, I started using a 5/8 inch type 68 seal, which required me to counterbore the housings 1.437 inches in diameter x 0.350 inches then I machined a stainless steel shaft spacer 12mm x 5/8 x .300 with .080 ledge to accept the seal seat. The pumps I rebuilt have not failed in 20 years. It's all academic now since the cheap replacements are available. I do, however, have in the works a similar rebuilding program for the long stroke engines, unless the aftermarket starts supplying cheap pumps for that engine also....
 
Is the long stroke pump that bad? I thought it was designed to be dismantled and rebuilt ( I have never pulled one apart :) )
 
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