Had my water pump fail on my 03 with 65K last night. Heard a squeak and pulled into a parking lot to see coolant dripping down. You could move the fan back and forth so it looks like the bearing failed. Prior to this no leakage at all so it was an unpleasant surprise and ruined the evening Ice Cream run for me but the Kids thought it was the best evening ever (Great to be a Kid!!!).

During this I never saw my external temp gauge rise which lead me to the question if no coolant is in the system you most likely won't get a coolant reading since the sensor would not be immersed in coolant?

Got a new ATX Water Pump on ordre for BP of Utah.

Now for the Fan Viscous Coupling which is probably next to fail. Does anyone know if I have any options but to replace my Fan Viscous Coupling assembly with the orginal replacement? I've read about installation of as G.M Coupling, but this may be for years prior to 03 where the Coupling and fan are seperate.

Thanks,
Rob

 

You could try to find a fan blade from a 99-02, and then buy an aftermarket clutch. I'd buy the 03-04 assembly myself. It appears to have more blades on the fan.

99-02 just the fan: Fan (Part # ERR4960) - Land Rover cooling/heating from Atlantic British
99-02 fan and clutch: Fan Assembly Includes Viscous Coupling (Part # ERR4959) - Land Rover cooling/heating from Atlantic British
03-04 fan and clutch: Fan Assembly Includes Viscous Coupling (Part # PGG000080) - Land Rover cooling/heating from Atlantic British

 

I think the first question you should answer is "Do I need a new fan/coupling?", because the WP failed doesn't automatically condemn the fan. I've only replaced a couple in the years I worked at the dealer, and those were only because the viscous coupling wasn't viscous anymore. (the engine would be running and the fan wasn't turning) I know lots of techs recommend replacing parts "just because", but I tend to only replace parts that have failed, have a history of frequent failure, or take a lot of time to replace if you put the old part back in. (changing the fan/coupling is at most a 5 minute job)

 

So your saying the failure rate is very low, good to know. I sure don't like replacing parts just to do so but I'd hate to have it fail and end up on a tow truck again.

What are your thoughts on my question with the Temp gauge reading coolant temp? Asumming I leaked all my coolant out, I shouldn't read any temp unless the engine is in meltdown mode and the sensor is not picking up head form the casting hole its screwed into correct?

 

In my experience the failure rate is low, but Seattle is not known as a hot climate so others experiences may be different (boy that sounds like "legalese" doesn't it?). You are correct, the sensor doesn't do a good job at sensing hot air as opposed to hot liquid but the only real way to find out is put a new pump on it and see what happens (you can't even pressure test it with a bad pump). Be careful and follow the torque specs for installing the pump, the gasket seals an oil passage and if you tighten it too much you will squish the gasket out the side and you won't have any oil pressure (the reason I remember that is that I did it on my first pump replacement but never once since)
Edit: If you're only changing the pump, ignore the advice above. The oil pressure passage I was referring to is in the front cover which I had to replace because the failed pump took out the cover as part of it's failure (d*** my memory gets worse every year).