Bog standard model. S plate. Do water pumps ever fail on these, and if so, 
what noise do they make?

Bit of background. Fairly suddenly - like in seemed quiet one day, 
noticeable the next - a 'graunching' noise started at the far left side of 
the engine, as you look into the bonnet. Sounds rotational rather than 
reciprocating. Present at idle, also audible when driving. Not a 'heavy' 
sound, but not exactly 'light', either. Doesn't sound or 'feel' like it's 
coming from the actual lump, which drives, sounds and feels normal in every 
way. My mechanic friend (who normally works on much higher end stuff than 
little Fords, so doesn't have much experience of them) came and had a 
listen, and it was his opinion that it was a ball breaking up in the water 
pump bearing, (wooden stick on the ear method) although no loss of water at 
this time. However, when he came to get one from the motor factors that he 
uses, he thought he would also check the price of one at the local main 
agent, and they didn't even have one in stock (in the group!) as they say 
that they never go wrong. I know that's just the storeman talking, but I 
guess you've gotta take some notice ?

Just as another thought, knowing (I think) that this engine has a timing 
chain and simple tensioner, my first thought on hearing the noise, was that 
the tensioner pad had fallen off or worn through, and the chain was running 
directly on the metal spring. As an extra little bit of information, she 
recently got a job that involves travelling 20 miles up and down the M1 
every day, and she is a sod for ragging the poor little thing mercilessly, 
and is less than vigilant at looking after keeping the oil topped up (90k 
engine and uses a bit now ...)

Any thoughts from the usual suspects, greatly appreciated, as my friend is 
hoping to sort it tonight or over the weekend.

TIA

Arfa

Arfa Daily wrote:
> Bog standard model. S plate. Do water pumps ever fail on these, and
> if so, what noise do they make?
>
> Bit of background. Fairly suddenly - like in seemed quiet one day,
> noticeable the next - a 'graunching' noise started at the far left
> side of the engine, as you look into the bonnet. Sounds rotational
> rather than reciprocating. Present at idle, also audible when
> driving. Not a 'heavy' sound, but not exactly 'light', either.
> Doesn't sound or 'feel' like it's coming from the actual lump, which
> drives, sounds and feels normal in every way. My mechanic friend (who
> normally works on much higher end stuff than little Fords, so doesn't
> have much experience of them) came and had a listen, and it was his
> opinion that it was a ball breaking up in the water pump bearing,
> (wooden stick on the ear method) although no loss of water at this
> time. However, when he came to get one from the motor factors that he
> uses, he thought he would also check the price of one at the local
> main agent, and they didn't even have one in stock (in the group!) as
> they say that they never go wrong. I know that's just the storeman
> talking, but I guess you've gotta take some notice ?
> Just as another thought, knowing (I think) that this engine has a
> timing chain and simple tensioner, my first thought on hearing the
> noise, was that the tensioner pad had fallen off or worn through, and
> the chain was running directly on the metal spring. As an extra
> little bit of information, she recently got a job that involves
> travelling 20 miles up and down the M1 every day, and she is a sod
> for ragging the poor little thing mercilessly, and is less than
> vigilant at looking after keeping the oil topped up (90k engine and
> uses a bit now ...)
> Any thoughts from the usual suspects, greatly appreciated, as my
> friend is hoping to sort it tonight or over the weekend.
>
> TIA
>
> Arfa

remove the belt, run the engine and see if it still makes a noise.  Water 
pumps often fail on the old push rod lump, as they do on the 1.25 as well 
(only less often and more expensively)

"Mrcheerful"  wrote in message 
news:vVixm.100790$OO7.76414@text.news.virginmedia.com...
> Arfa Daily wrote:
>> Bog standard model. S plate. Do water pumps ever fail on these, and
>> if so, what noise do they make?
>>
>> Bit of background. Fairly suddenly - like in seemed quiet one day,
>> noticeable the next - a 'graunching' noise started at the far left
>> side of the engine, as you look into the bonnet. Sounds rotational
>> rather than reciprocating. Present at idle, also audible when
>> driving. Not a 'heavy' sound, but not exactly 'light', either.
>> Doesn't sound or 'feel' like it's coming from the actual lump, which
>> drives, sounds and feels normal in every way. My mechanic friend (who
>> normally works on much higher end stuff than little Fords, so doesn't
>> have much experience of them) came and had a listen, and it was his
>> opinion that it was a ball breaking up in the water pump bearing,
>> (wooden stick on the ear method) although no loss of water at this
>> time. However, when he came to get one from the motor factors that he
>> uses, he thought he would also check the price of one at the local
>> main agent, and they didn't even have one in stock (in the group!) as
>> they say that they never go wrong. I know that's just the storeman
>> talking, but I guess you've gotta take some notice ?
>> Just as another thought, knowing (I think) that this engine has a
>> timing chain and simple tensioner, my first thought on hearing the
>> noise, was that the tensioner pad had fallen off or worn through, and
>> the chain was running directly on the metal spring. As an extra
>> little bit of information, she recently got a job that involves
>> travelling 20 miles up and down the M1 every day, and she is a sod
>> for ragging the poor little thing mercilessly, and is less than
>> vigilant at looking after keeping the oil topped up (90k engine and
>> uses a bit now ...)
>> Any thoughts from the usual suspects, greatly appreciated, as my
>> friend is hoping to sort it tonight or over the weekend.
>>
>> TIA
>>
>> Arfa
>
> remove the belt, run the engine and see if it still makes a noise.  Water 
> pumps often fail on the old push rod lump, as they do on the 1.25 as well 
> (only less often and more expensively)
>

OK. It was the water pump. Surprisingly, only 20 quidsworth. But another 
question. We had the most god-awful time of it trying to remove the engine 
mount to get at the thing. The two nuts and the bolt on the top - no 
problem. The ones securing the mount to the black bracket that's fixed to 
the car body - no problem. Except there was then another bolt from the other 
side, right up against the pulley, where you just could not get at it, so in 
the end, the black bracket had to come off, complete with the engine mount, 
still attached to it by this one last bolt. Getting that bracket off was a 
mother of a job due to general corrosion on the bolts and access only from 
underneath. Would have been a little easier with a ratchet spanner, which we 
didn't have to hand, but even then a poor bit of design work from a 
maintenance point of view, given the very limited space around that engine. 
Went back together a bit easier due to the threads now being cleaned and 
lubed, so able to be screwed in all the way to the pinch point, with 
fingers.

So is there an easier way of doing the job ? Were we missing something ?

Arfa

Arfa Daily wrote:
> "Mrcheerful"  wrote in message
> news:vVixm.100790$OO7.76414@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>> Arfa Daily wrote:
>>> Bog standard model. S plate. Do water pumps ever fail on these, and
>>> if so, what noise do they make?
>>>
>>> Bit of background. Fairly suddenly - like in seemed quiet one day,
>>> noticeable the next - a 'graunching' noise started at the far left
>>> side of the engine, as you look into the bonnet. Sounds rotational
>>> rather than reciprocating. Present at idle, also audible when
>>> driving. Not a 'heavy' sound, but not exactly 'light', either.
>>> Doesn't sound or 'feel' like it's coming from the actual lump, which
>>> drives, sounds and feels normal in every way. My mechanic friend
>>> (who normally works on much higher end stuff than little Fords, so
>>> doesn't have much experience of them) came and had a listen, and it
>>> was his opinion that it was a ball breaking up in the water pump
>>> bearing, (wooden stick on the ear method) although no loss of water
>>> at this time. However, when he came to get one from the motor
>>> factors that he uses, he thought he would also check the price of
>>> one at the local main agent, and they didn't even have one in stock
>>> (in the group!) as they say that they never go wrong. I know that's
>>> just the storeman talking, but I guess you've gotta take some
>>> notice ? Just as another thought, knowing (I think) that this engine has 
>>> a
>>> timing chain and simple tensioner, my first thought on hearing the
>>> noise, was that the tensioner pad had fallen off or worn through,
>>> and the chain was running directly on the metal spring. As an extra
>>> little bit of information, she recently got a job that involves
>>> travelling 20 miles up and down the M1 every day, and she is a sod
>>> for ragging the poor little thing mercilessly, and is less than
>>> vigilant at looking after keeping the oil topped up (90k engine and
>>> uses a bit now ...)
>>> Any thoughts from the usual suspects, greatly appreciated, as my
>>> friend is hoping to sort it tonight or over the weekend.
>>>
>>> TIA
>>>
>>> Arfa
>>
>> remove the belt, run the engine and see if it still makes a noise. Water 
>> pumps often fail on the old push rod lump, as they do on the
>> 1.25 as well (only less often and more expensively)
>>
>
> OK. It was the water pump. Surprisingly, only 20 quidsworth. But
> another question. We had the most god-awful time of it trying to
> remove the engine mount to get at the thing. The two nuts and the
> bolt on the top - no problem. The ones securing the mount to the
> black bracket that's fixed to the car body - no problem. Except there
> was then another bolt from the other side, right up against the
> pulley, where you just could not get at it, so in the end, the black
> bracket had to come off, complete with the engine mount, still
> attached to it by this one last bolt. Getting that bracket off was a
> mother of a job due to general corrosion on the bolts and access only
> from underneath. Would have been a little easier with a ratchet
> spanner, which we didn't have to hand, but even then a poor bit of
> design work from a maintenance point of view, given the very limited
> space around that engine. Went back together a bit easier due to the
> threads now being cleaned and lubed, so able to be screwed in all the
> way to the pinch point, with fingers.
> So is there an easier way of doing the job ? Were we missing
> something ?
> Arfa

sounds normal.  the corroded bolts thing is on everything these days.
I changed the rack on a 53 plate fiat the other day (bent through collision) 
the bolts for the subframe were so corroded that I reckon another year or so 
and they would have snapped off, when I got them out a load of water came 
out with them, so good design there.

I am going to put those super duper ratchet flexi ratchet spanners on ebay, 
there seems to be a wide market for them, it may make a few quid, I'll see !