pos water pump pulley failure

[mishalah]

My wife and grandkids were 600 miles away, getting ready to head home. The pressed on pulley on the water pump spun off, leaving them stranded. 6 hours and $650 later they got back on the road after being ripped off by local shop in Rocklin, CA. After they doubled the price on the pump, thermostat/housing, belts, and coolant they added another $220 in labor. I requested all the parts be returned to me.

When they got back I inspected the "cracked" belts: the a/c belt had the typical backside cracks that show up within a few thousand miles; the main belt had NO cracks, and was perfect ($115 for both). The thermostat/housing looked like new and works perfectly. I suspect it was replaced not long before I bought the burb last December.

The pump looked like new except for the spun off pulley. I can pull the pulley up against the ring on the shaft and it actually stays in place until I knock it down. A simple welding job would have fixed it. The shaft on the pump turns freely with no side-to-side movement or noises. Needless to say I'm pizzed at both GM for their idiotic design, AND this shop for charging my wife far, FAR more than this job should have cost. Had I been there...even with my arthritis...I could have changed the pump in an hour.

What really burns me is the crappy setup that GM has given to all of us who have this engine. If they would have stayed with the traditional flange/screw assembly this never would have happened. Yeah....I'll bet they saved about 50 cents on each pump assembly. GM doesn't deserve to be bailed out or supported as a producer of anything. I'm tired of their crap quality and design garbage! I'm selling both my Suburbans and looking for something Nissan.

[777stickman]

Sorry for your $$ loss. At least wife and Grand kids are home. The cost of that = priceless!

Actually $650 isn't too bad for what they did. May have been a little over kill, but??

I would love to sit in a chair with a couple of cold beers (well maybe 3 or 4) and watch you try to change out a water pump from start to finish in one hour.

So you're pissed and hate GM!! Try and sell you're Subs and spend big $$ on what ever else you think is better.

Good luck to you.

[j cAT]

is this the 05 sub that was brought back to life after a total...?

that water pump may have been improperly installed when vehicle was reconstructed..

[procaddytech]

Gm used to sell the water pump and thermostat with housing as an assembly. Now, the water pump is sold without a thermostat and housing and the old t-stat will not fit the new pump unfortunately. A thermostat housing needs to be purchased separately.

[mishalah]

Originally Posted by 777stickman

Sorry for your $$ loss. At least wife and Grand kids are home. The cost of that = priceless!

Actually $650 isn't too bad for what they did. May have been a little over kill, but??

I would love to sit in a chair with a couple of cold beers (well maybe 3 or 4) and watch you try to change out a water pump from start to finish in one hour.

So you're pissed and hate GM!! Try and sell you're Subs and spend big $$ on what ever else you think is better.

Good luck to you.

I guarantee you I could do that R&R in an hour or less. There is no fan or shroud to remove, nothing to keep the belts from coming right off and back on, no poorly designed pump shaft/flange to R&R -- unlike the setup on my '96 which I did two or three weeks ago. This setup is a breeze. It's the guaranteed-to-fail pressed on pulley that GM should never have put on in the first place.

Second only to bad parts, I reeeeeeallllly hate shops that take advantage of women out on the road. But yes, I am glad it didn't happen in the middle of the highway somewhere. The point is, it shouldn't have happened at all.

[mishalah]

Originally Posted by j cAT

is this the 05 sub that was brought back to life after a total...?

that water pump may have been improperly installed when vehicle was reconstructed..

Same one, but that was just body and dome suspension damage. The engine wasn't touched except for whatever prep they did to make it ready to sell. I do think that pump/t-stat assembly must have been changed not long before I got it, though. It is just too clean inside. Maybe it's a rebuilt and some furriner didn't put the pulley back on good enough. In which case, I'll apologize slightly to GM....but only slightly.

Generally, this is a pretty good engine, but too small for such a load. Regardless of GM's HP claims, there's a huge difference between the real power this 5.3L has and my good old 350.