Bits of metal stuck to rad cap

[hrhoward]

I have been having some issues with the cooling system. I noticed some metal flakes stuck to the bottom / rubber part of the cap. They were about the size of salt grains. Most of them were alum but a couple were steel (checked with magnet). Is this telling me my water pump is dying?

[Overboost]

water pump housing is aluminum, impeller is steel, sounds like you have a clearence issue in there. change it, cheap, 2 hour job, flush the cooling system. you should be golden.

[zeus87gn]

That's what I would hope for. Waterpumps are an easy change.
I certainly wouldn't want any other types of metal in there, from anywhere else.
Get it changed before you end up with serious damage...like overheated blocks or heads.

[hrhoward]

That's what I was afraid of. I built this motor back in Nov. '05 and put a O'rielly's Advance Zone pump on. The X, and I definitly mean X, totaled it a month later. Took the engine/trans out and transplanted it. It is very plausable that the pump shaft got tweaked. I have been having overheating problems since I upgraded to a fmic and a gt6152. Have installed a f-body rad also. Idle would never get above 165* but under load temp would rise quite a bit but it rose proportional to the ambient temp outside.