Re: Help a new Packard owner

Posted by flackmaster On 2010/8/10 10:20:48

Ahh...another leaking 35-37 Pump. I should write a technical paper on these....
Up to 37 (no we are not going to talk about early 38s), the pump has a graphite rope packing which, when tightened, is supposed to keep the water from leaking past. Not unlike the old faucets. Must be the plumbers got to design automotive waterpumps "in the beginning". Finally, the engineers got tired of leaky waterpumps and designed a spring loaded seal on a ball bearing shaft, but I am getting ahead of myself. Back to the 35-37 pumps. There is a grease cap at the front and rear of the waterpump casting. The pump is designed to have some lubrication here, otherwise the shaft will run dry and scorch, leak, etc. So it is important to keep these caps lubricated, now on to leaking. The packing nut can be tightened to try to alleviate leaking, but bear in mind that some seeping is considered normal and acceptable. There is no "spec" for torque on the packing nut, it really becomes a how tight is tight exercise. As for adding packing, the key is adding, not replacing. If I recall, the most basic 1/4" rope packing can be bought almost anywhere. Get a variety of sizes if possible, the stuff is cheap, and stick with the plain old fashioned graphite rope, not the newfangled teflon stuff. It is not a fun job to add packing, first you have to be able to loosen the packing nut all the way to get into the pump. Then you have to have just the right size to wrap around the shaft and somehow cram inside the cup shaped nut. PITA. Yes, go ahead and remove the fan first. By now your back is sore, your knuckles shredded (see the current post on replacing the waterpump), and you're ready to throw in the towel and simply replace the pump, thinking that will solve the leaking. Not necessarily so... as the packing has to "settle" in on a new pump, then usually be tightened, again. And don't forget to add lubricant to the grease caps.
Since you already know that the waterpump is probably "good", hopefully just a matter of learning the intricacies of the old packing style pumps...such fun.

Keep us posted.