Just a reminder regarding water pumps...

[greymarooneightytwo]

There are two variants listed for our cars at most part stores... one for ac and one for non-ac, due to the belt routing varying between them, reversing the rotation direction of the impeller.

They list them, at least at my parts store, as "serpentine" and "non-serpentine" for the ac and non-ac vehicles, respectively... I may have bought the wrong one and spent the last week thinking I had problems elsewhere, but you won't catch me admitting it!

[mudkicker715]

The reverse rotation pumps housing used to at one time have "rev" cast into it. not sure that still holds true.

[Eagleearl]

The serpentine pumps are for cars with the serpentine belt setup, which were made for California cars I believe. The non-serpentine pumps are for cars with the V-belt setup. Either one can be AC or non-AC.

[greymarooneightytwo]

Ah, so is the variance is involved in presence or absence of an air pump then...?

I assumed it was the AC cars that used serpentine belts, but I had heard that due to California smog regulations there were pulse air systems in some of these vehicles..

Mine was a non-AC but had three separate belts, one for the air pump..

I wonder if it's just specific years that are affected?

What is the method to the madness?

[Eagleearl]

Early Eagles had air pumps, then they switched to the pulse air system. These are to feed air to the catalytic converter to burn unburned hydrocarbons. These were to meet Federal mandates. I don't know why the serpentine belts for California, maybe for efficiency.

[BenM]

I don't know that there was any fast rule beyond all California cars got serpentine belts. Various other cars got them as well, but the V-belt was more common.

[greymarooneightytwo]

Replaced the water pump with the new "standard rotation" one! It's no longer overheating, but I think I fried the temp sensor, it doesn't go above the "cold" line on the gauge.... but then, I also replaced the thermostat with a 180 degree one, that's what they had listed... but when I pulled the old one it was a 195. PO switched it out or is it another random variance? Should I be running a 195 in there?

[BenM]

Replaced the water pump with the new "standard rotation" one! It's no longer overheating, but I think I fried the temp sensor, it doesn't go above the "cold" line on the gauge.... but then, I also replaced the thermostat with a 180 degree one, that's what they had listed... but when I pulled the old one it was a 195. PO switched it out or is it another random variance? Should I be running a 195 in there?

That's a correct reading for a 180 thermostat. It won't go into the green without a 195 in there. AMC always ran a 195 in the 258. People get from just into the green to the middle of the green with a 195.

[TLC87Eagle]

I had a problem with the parts store getting one that didn't have casted fitting for the smaller hose, it just had a threaded 5/8" hole in it, and I couldn't find a fitting to screw into it. So I put my old water pump I had before my engine rebuild that was still serviceable back on. The brand new one I put on during my engine rebuild crapped out after 13k miles  .
And my old one that even has an AMC logo on it is still working fine after 65k miles of combined service between two engines.
I'll probably just get a high flow unit from Summit Racing when the one I'm running starts weeping.

[greymarooneightytwo]

Yeah, temp gauge used to sit right in the green... I liked it better that way, and I think my heater worked better too so I'm probably going to swap it back.

Thanks a lot everybody.

[eaglebeek]

Eagles with 258s need a 195 thermostat. If it overheats with a 195 there's something else going on.

[carnuck]

My '84 had no AC but it was serpentine. My '81 is AC but it's Vee belt (as are all York AC systems)

[BenM]

I had a problem with the parts store getting one that didn't have casted fitting for the smaller hose, it just had a threaded 5/8" hole in it, and I couldn't find a fitting to screw into it. So I put my old water pump I had before my engine rebuild that was still serviceable back on. The brand new one I put on during my engine rebuild crapped out after 13k miles  .
And my old one that even has an AMC logo on it is still working fine after 65k miles of combined service between two engines.
I'll probably just get a high flow unit from Summit Racing when the one I'm running starts weeping.

I did that once as well. FlowKooler and Hesco make high-flow units.

[eaglefreek]

  The brand new one I put on during my engine rebuild crapped out after 13k miles  .
   

I had that happen also. I put the engine from my original 81 Eagle into my 87 Eagle and even though the water pump looked fine I figured it would be wise to swap out the almost 30 year old water pump. Well, with less than 5,000 miles, the new water pump went out in KY on my move from CO to TN. Fortunately, I had a friend that lived about 30 miles from where it happened and was able to limp to his place and install another. That was has worked fine for 20+K miles.

[TLC87Eagle]

I had that happen also. I put the engine from my original 81 Eagle into my 87 Eagle and even though the water pump looked fine I figured it would be wise to swap out the almost 30 year old water pump. Well, with less than 5,000 miles, the new water pump went out in KY on my move from CO to TN. Fortunately, I had a friend that lived about 30 miles from where it happened and was able to limp to his place and install another. That was has worked fine for 20+K miles.

Yeah, the Reman water pumps are really touch and go now, most likely because most are remaned in China. Mine first started making noice when the engine was cold. Sounded like a piece of metal in a garbage disposal under the hood, that would only last less than 30 seconds per drive. So it was really hard for me to sort out what it was. And one day while checking the oil, I smelled antifreeze and noticed where some had seeped out on the front of the engine and noticed the overflow bottle was low. I traced it back to the water pump, and still couldn't believe it, since it was a new pump, but sure enough it was. After dealing with two parts stores in one day and needing to drive the car the next day, I just put the old one back on and it has been holding up since.

I may just order one of those high flow units for Summit, and put it up on the shelf so I won't have to deal with part stores next time I have water pump issues.

Still not sure why some of those pumps have the threaded hole on them, unless they were used on something else too, cause I've never seen an Eagle with that style water pump.