Change History

But both the OEM and aftermarket pumps with plastic impeller assemblies tend to fail by shedding vanes, leaving the impeller disc pretty much intact. As the result, the pump bearing does not die in the process. In the process of shedding the vanes, bits of plastic end up in small cooling passages in the heads, and perhaps more importantly, the oil cooler. If they sufficiently block the passages , steam pockets and cracking often quickly happens, followed by hydro locking and/or intermixing. If the oil cooler gets cut off from coolant, the oil temps skyrocket, particularly under heavy load conditions (e.g.: on the track), the oil breaks down (particularly 0W weight oils) leading to spun bearings, broken cranks, and a complete boat anchors where a perfectly good M96 used to sit. As I have mentioned elsewhere, your photos do not show the level of gouging type damage I would expect if something significant got into the pump area and tore up the impeller, your pump looks like several I’ve pulled out of street cars when the plastic impeller crapped out. I really thing k that you were happily belting around the track when some bits from your dying water pump cut off the coolant somewhere important, probably at the oil cooler, and the rest you already know.

But both the OEM and aftermarket pumps with plastic impeller assemblies tend to fail by shedding vanes, leaving the impeller disc pretty much intact. As the result, the pump bearing does not die in the process. In the process of shedding the vanes, bits of plastic end up in small cooling passages in the heads, and perhaps more importantly, the oil cooler. If they sufficiently block the passages , steam pockets and cracking often quickly happens, followed by hydro locking and/or intermixing. If the oil cooler gets cut off from coolant, the oil temps skyrocket, particularly under heavy load conditions (e.g.: on the track), the oil breaks down (particularly 0W weight oils) leading to spun bearings, broken cranks, and a complete boat anchors where a perfectly good M96 used to sit. As I have mentioned elsewhere, your photos do not show the level of gouging type damage I would expect if something significant got into the pump area and tore up the impeller, your pump looks like several I’ve pulled out of street cars when the plastic impeller crapped out. I really thing that you were happily belting around the track when some bits from your dying water pump cut off the coolant somewhere important, probably at the oil cooler, and the rest you already know.