Thread: Td5 Water Pump drive failure checks

Hi Folks

Well a check for our aging vehicles is the wear on the drive flanges on the rears of both Power Steering Pump and Water Pump as I replaced all cooling hoses and water pump (aftermarket) at 184K and by 220K complete wear of the water pump flange and no more drive of the water pump. I am not saying the aftermarket vs genuine is to blame but to show you that high wear can be expected if the power steer side is worn when replacing our water pumps.

I'll pull out the power steer and replace with new as I cannot find any other options and certainly would have loved to press in a new drive flange but not available. Anyway just sharing what can happen and how fast too!

I just borrowed a pic from our UK forum buddies to show you the missing meat here. No broken parts on the power side so all is just wear of steel on steel here or is this evidence of mis alignment as first pump I never even checked the flanges!

You have to admit that is pretty fast wear and the Power Steering Pump has up to 2/3 full height but a fresh set of worn ramps ready to work over the new one. And I did the breaking part on one remaining flange as I wanted to see what type of steel and breaks like a zinc alloy here.

Okay, just had chance to remove the power steer pump and inspect before changing out once I get another one and show you the damage on its drive side to the water pump. I did note some out casing damage on the housing where the pump aligns to the housing which means its been out prior to my ownership and perhaps a butcher job misaligned when tightening initially perhaps.

Anyway again found no large metal pieces yet if you look closely both tabs have been fractured from a mid point leaving a razor sharp ramp edge to cut the drive of the water pump.

Removing the power steer pump to inspect is a 10min job is your familiar with fan and belt removal. Trick is to just unbolt the power steer pulley with the belt on as you need pulley removed for easy access to the pump. Pump comes out like mine without any stress to the pipework.