Shop Lincoln Water Pumps

Okay, here is what I've got.

Drove the car around today with AC on max and got the car heated (took about 20 miles of driving). Once the car was up to operating temps I let it idle and water started leaking from the top bleeder hole of the water pump. Obviously this needs replaced. It was a new pump, and matched the one I pulled off perfectly. It has a lifetime warranty on it as well, so I can get a new one. I did apply silicon, RTV, whatever you choose to call it (thermal grade as well). I also torqued the bolts to specifications, however all I had was a needle wrench, but I am pretty sure it accurately did the job. The system was probably a 35/70 mixture of coolant/water with around 5-10% leftover from the old engine.

Fan Clutch - Performing fine.
Heater Hoses:

I'm sure I hooked them up right, based on the sizes each hose could only reach one side of the heater core.

My questions:
1. Its obvious this cooling system has been neglected and if I don't get it in order I'll end up blowing the motor or the head-gasket at least. I need to get the cooling system clean and up to par. What would be the best process to flush my system during the repair (could I do it before the water-pump as long as I keep the car idle). I would like to get all the gunk out of my system, as I have a new heater-core as well. I would like to have clean coolant flowing through the heater-core.

2.What other things might I want to look into, could the radiator be the primary cause of this? What will I need to do to make sure the cooling system is cleaned?

Repairs performed:
Coolant system flush
Top and Bottom radiator hoses
Water pump

I do have the book for this vehicle as well, so I have the specs I need for everything, as well as the owner's manual.

Thanks for your replies.

Added: what are freeze plugs, where are they located?

magic; In two months, I doubt that it would be the rust that caused the pump failure; And, there's nothing you could have done to cause it. Just happens. There is a seal inside the pump that fails. And, there are varying qualities of replacement pumps. Don't know where you purchased yours, but try and stay with a good quality pump. Even they 'can' go bad, but less likely.

Not sure what a 'needle' wrench is?

As far as flushing goes; If you remove the thermostat, this procedure will be quicker; I'd do it before replacing the pump, if you can do it without overheating. Most parts stores sell flush chemicals. Drain the coolant out of the radiator (if still clean, you can save and reuse it; If not, dispose of it properly) and refill with water. Run the engine until warm, then drain and fill again. You can't do this too many times. Each time, it'll get a bit cleaner. Once you are 'satisfied' with the results, refill again with water, add the flush chemical, and do it again following the instructions on the chemical container. This stuff will be, more than likely, toxic, so when you drain it out, dispose of it properly. I would suggest doing one last clean water flush afterwards to make sure you've got all of the chemical out of the system. A 50/50 mix with water and anti-freeze is ideal. Too much anti-freeze can cause an over heating condition as it doesn't dissapate the heat as well as water. Too little anti-freeze doesn't give you enough freeze protection, rust protection, and boil temp. protection.

Freeze plugs, or soft plugs, really aren't what they say they are. I used to think that they were there in case the water in the engine block froze, they'd allow for the expansion and be 'pushed' out, saving the block. Although I have actually seen this, that isn't what they were designed for. Usually, there are three on each side of the engine block, one or two at the rear of the engine (have to pull the engine or transmission to see them) and usually one at each end of each cylinder head. Replacing the plugs isn't a tough job once you've gained access. THAT (gaining access) can be a nightmare. On your application, it would probably be easier to remove the engine and replace all of them. If it comes to that.

Alright, well flushed the radiator, I used a garden-type pressure hose (has like 8 or so settings, not very much psi) and flushed from the top of the radiator on both sides down and the water ran out fine, at the same rate as it was flowing in and clear as well after a little bit. Then i removed the thermostat and sprayed into the thermostat housing, the water ran from the bottom of the waterpump with fine pressure and clear as well after a bit. Tested the thermostat by dropping it into boiling water and after a minute, it opened up just fine and slowly closed after i removed it. Doing the water-pump tomarrow.

As for the pump I used not sure, it was a 42 dollar water pump and bought from oriely's new. We pretty much only have autozone and oreily's here and I never have been much of a fan of autozone. We will see what happens after the 2nd waterpump repair and if it fails again. The coolant flow seems to be fine, btw i reccomend a racheting wrench if you ever have to remove a thermostat from one of these, the waterpump, alternator bracket and distributor are RIGHT in the way of any rachet access, lol, and its a pain in the ass with a locktighted bolt on :-(. Getting a new radiator cap, thermostat gasket and waterpump tomarrow as my radiator cap has a crack on the rubber seal inside the top of the cap, not sure if this could be the culprit of overheating myself, but it very well could be.

It was the air pump, only found that out after I pulled it off. Looked on the net, found out about easy-outs drilled it out (easy out got it 2-3 threads out then broke lol) but enough that it broke the bolt and I could unscrew it out. Got dark once we got to the fan clutch/fan (lol i forgot to put the pulley on the fan/clutch) so hopefullyt omarrow i'm filling back up. Save the heater-core til I figure out why the impala is overheating. Coolant boiling out of resivior after some sustained driving. My guess would be a stuck thermostat. Anyway thanks for the help, I'll try to help answer some questions ont he site as well. I'm not professional but my entire family does their own mechanic work, and a good job at that, so even though I just started I already have a background of knowledge, i just need to aquire the know-how, and only one way to do that.

Did you fix this problem? If so how did you fix it?

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If you have a question, just start a new thread of your own. This one is now locked.

Could be water pump or any number of other possibilities. You need to tow it to a reputable shop for inspection.

Does this have any type of warranty? You might of bought someone else's very expensive problem that they were hiding from you during the sale.

There is no warranty, bought it from my cousin who had it for a long time with no trouble. Her husband has a parts car for it too & maybe he will have a water pump for it. Are there any other possibilities?

Honestly I wouldn't put a used water pump in it. Better to go with a new pump.

You might also want to pressure test the coolant system to see if you have any leaks. The Jag engine in that thing has a lot of plastic parts for the coolant system that like to crack and leak.

@Discretesignals I probably will opt for the new one instead. I expected it to be more expensive because of the Jag engine. I have noticed it's a pretty plasticy engine just from messing around with it. Thought about adding a Jag supercharger to it lol The engine bay is so cramped though, It has a lot of engine for that little space, & the battery is in the trunk. Miraculously though even with my lead foot it's been getting around 28 MPG. The car itself is a 2000 Model & the engine was taken from a wrecked 2001, It only has 40k miles on it (odometer reads 200xxx) It's loaded too. Only paid $3,100 for it. So I expected some issues. Hopefully it won't become a money pit like my Blazer was. That thing has got to be one of the worst cars ever built. I pampered it and it still costed me about 7k to fix, and it's broken again now. And I paid about 3k for it to start with. I should start a new thread about it lol

We get a few Jags and LS in the shop once in a blue moon. The AJ engine doesn't seem to have any major mechanical problems from what we ran into. Mostly they come in for ignition coil problems and coolant leaks.

The only other thing I have heard that is negative on those is the transmissions. They like to blow up. In fact, we ended up changing out all the coils on an LS for multiple misfires and month later the transmission went out.

I will say this, that thing is laden with computers and solving com and electrical problems is a challenge. If you go to change a window regulator, don't stick your hand in the door shell unless you have the motor unplugged. They have a module to control the window motor and will come down on express mode with your hand in there and chop your fingers off.

Haven't had any transmission issues. Now the coolant reservoir has been replaced, and I found out that the water pump has been replaced before as well and is under warranty, problem is they can't remember where they had it put in. The only electrical problems it has is the rear left window won't go down, it does this annoying beep for no apparent reason a lot, the heated/cooled seats don't work, the rear right turn signal works only when it wants to, it constantly says "check traction control" on the screen, and 2 lights are always on but have apparently always been on since the car was bought by my cousin. OH, none of the steering wheel buttons work, or the horn. Ok there are some electrical issues but given how much DOES work I look past it. It would be nice to at least have cruise control though.

Those 2 lights are check engine & abs. Was falling asleep while posting that & couldn't remember what they were.

I read somewhere that the Lincoln LS can't be towed or it will tear up the transmission?

Unless it is all wheel drive, it can be towed. If it is, they have flatbeds for that.
I definitely shouldn't be driven.

K thank you. It's RWD, & I thought that was strange to hear it couldn't be towed. I'll look into having it towed immediately to a shop where I know the owner. Thank you guys for the help. Looked up a new water pump on rockauto & found one for 105 which isn't too bad, I wanna make sure that's the problem before I buy though. Was hoping this could be something I could fix at home. I have a pretty large garage and any tool you can imagine with the exception of a lift :/ I'm a car nut and trying to learn how to work on them as I go along. I will not drive the car anymore until the problem is resolved and I will respond here and let you guys know what the problem was. Thank you guys for trying to help. If you guys can think of anything else it could be that I could get to and look at or need any more details please let me know. It is a very pretty, comfortable, and surprisingly quick & agile little car that I have really enjoyed upgrading to from my old POS 97 Blazer LT