Need some advice on failed waterpump and consequential damage.... :( (abit long)

Hey guys.
I'm a tad bit annoyed atm. Not with anyone in particular (yet) but that may change when I get the call from the Joe in a few hours (btw not gonna be angry at Joe, he's a champ).

So basically for the last few weeks I'd been hearing a noise from the front of the engine. Sounded like some sort of cluttering noise. Was a strange noise to be hearing from the front of the engine so I spent a little while trying to find the problem. I was worried about idler pulleys etc but soon found that a noise was coming from the alternator. So I took the car to Joe Imbesi a week or two ago and he confirmed that it was the alternator bearings. So today I took the car there and Joe replaced the alternator bearings and we were happy that there was no noise from the alternator anymore so I payed and left. About two kilometres away I realised that the noise was still there but now abit softer. So this led me to think that the loud noise I had been hearing was actually two noises at once. Fair enough. So I'm driving normally and decide to turn around and go back but just as I accelerate abit as I'm about to change lanes so I can turn around, I hear this loud bang and hear a loud noise from the front engine and my first reaction is to put the clutch in and brake and as I check my mirror as I'm about to break I see pieces of plastic flying out from under the car. First thought is Timing belt failure but there is no crunch but the battery light comes on and so does the lights warning light so just to be safe I switch the car off and let it roll (doing about 60 kays) and flick the hazards on and come to a service lane and pull in there.

Get out and look under the car. and see two belts hanging under the car, one broken and one is snapped. it's not the TB but they are fan belts which explains why the battery light came on. So it's just a case of a snapped belt it seems but how does it explain the plastic flying out from under the car?

I open the bonnet and look inside and what greets me is this:



Okayyyyyyy. So if you look at the waterpump (or what's left of it) you'll see that the shaft has pretty much sheared in two.

Here's the pic from the back of the fan...



And the peices of plastic that flew out from under the car would be pieces of the undertray and the fan shround which would have been broken apart by the fan flying around as the shaft broke. The only belt that was still on it's pulley was the belt that goes around the power steering pump (i think it's the ps pump, the one that goes around the pulley on the drivers side of the engine bay), the alternator (and water pump etc) belt had not snapped but had come off and the other belt was broken but it looked like it had been cut by the fan as it flew around.

Joe comes over to inspect the damage. And he confirms that the waterpump shaft had sheared in-two. Now before everyone says that I should have replaced my water pump, here's the part I'm confused about.

I had my full 100k service done when I first bought the car. Those of you who read my old threads will know which mechanic did the work but I won't name them in this thread. Now this previous mechanic of mine showed me my old water pump and idlers and this is what made me do the 100k service (not doubting that it needed to be done, the parts were clearly due for replacement) but Joe says he's never seen a Nissan water pump fail like this but he has seen a non-genuine part fail (but not shear off like this). He says mine's the worst waterpump failure he's seen and he's been working on these cars for ages. He said usually when it fails, he had two non-genuine waterpumps fail on race engines while on dyno but even still the fan shaft did not shear off the way mine did. And these are race engine TT's and mines a stocky NA.

So I'm still waiting for him to call me back and let me know if the waterpump is genuine or not and whether it has been replaced in the 100k service I did (i should be able to tell as my old waterpump had a very clear rust line on its inside that was caused by the car sitting for a while in japan, so seeing as my car is a faily driver then a new waterpump shouldn't have this rust).

So assuming that the part was replaced, what are my options? The waterpump should last 100,000kms right? Mines only lasted just over 6000kms. So obviously a defective part.
So if it's a nissan part, can I make them pay for the damage? And will they fix everything (consequential damage, the fan shroud, radiator, new belts etc) or just the waterpump? And what do you guys honestly thing are my chances of getting them to fix it?
And if it's a non-genuine part, would they cover the consequential damage or just the waterpump?
And how do I go about this? Is this something that I'm going to have to go through a lawyer for? I have all my reciepts and assuming that part was replaced in my 100k service I can call up the old mech and get details about his supplier.

But still, any advice would be greatly appreciated. I just want the car back on the road but I don't like the idea of paying for things that were caused by a defective part.

Thanks in advance

Sandeep

p.s. sorry about the long post

 

Sounds more like the belt was on too tight.

 

Mate that is a pretty uncommon failure for a water pump. Looking at the second pic of the shaft it appears to have been a fatigue crack thats probably been forming there for a few days at least, but probably far longer, and as such may have been caused by a manufacturing defect in the shaft or possibly from the failed bearing in the alternator vibrating the shaft (or it may have caused the bearing damage), or it may have been that the pulley was not mounted flush to the shaft or is out of balance (ie theres been some sort of rythmic pulling on the shaft fatiguing it). The noise may have been from the shaft bending slightly at the crack and resonating. If it is a genuine nissan pump Id say its just a freak occurance that you were unlucky enough to cop.

 

terrible to hear sandeep,im guessing its a cheap knock off pump,did it do anything to the fins on the radiator ????????

 

Even Joe looked shocked when he came and saw. Was definately a freak occurence and the thing that scares me is that it could have been far worse. Just a few minutes earlier both Joe and I were standing next to the front of the car and Joe had his head under the bonnet listening for the noise. If it had failed then we both could have lost our eyes from all the flying pieces of plastic... or if I had decided to run without the timing belt covers who knows what the fan would have done to the belt...

I'll have to get some better pics of the damage. And I'm definately going to ask to keep the broken parts... that way even if i do sell the car eventually, I can still remember the good times I had replacing parts...

But I was having a read and it seems that they usually they just cover the cost of the part that failed and not the consequential damage. So that means I'll be up for all the labour and other parts....

Has anyone ever succeeded in making a claim for consequential damage against a part manufacturer? I'd be interested to hear how I should go about it, if indeed I decide to go that way.

 

Sandeep what bad luck mate, I hope everything is not as bad is it seems from the photos, its terrible news to hear, i know if there was anything i could do to help i would. The good news is at least Joe is the one working on the car now. If anyone can fix it mate its Joe.

 

not sure about the part manufacturer yet simon. could be a nissan part, could be a non genuine... will have to wait until Joe pulls down the front of the engine.

Actually, the fan did hit the radiator. But no fluid leaks but it looks like a few fins have been crushed and there's some scratches on it from the fan flying around. I'll get a pic of that if I can. Hopefully I don't have to get a new radiator too... Can't afford a huge bill at the moment.

At the moment it's just

• water pump
• maybe radiator (willl need to get Joe opinion on this, he said it looked fine though)
• new belts (maybe just the one that goes around the aircon)
• fan shroud (might have to run without one for a little while if I can't afford a new one or can't source one off a wreck)
• labour

 

thanks adam. actually, if you end up going down to the wreckers and they have a fan shroud for an NA then let me know. i'll pm you my mobile.
I'm hoping to get this back on the road asap. I was supposed to go to the aami driver training course on wednesday. I wanted to take the zed but can't cancel because I'll have to pay so I guess I'll be out there in mums camry
Hopefully can still make the skidpan day on saturday...

 

I would think that if you were to make a claim for consequential damage it would cost you more then the whole deal is worth. Shouldnt genuine nissan parts have a warranty anyway? You wont have no problem getting a replacement water pump but i doubt it that they will fix the damage caused.

 

woahhh, keep us updated sandeep hope its all ok man

 

bring the camry to the skidpan :bash: :biggrin:
you are very lucky the fan didnt go through the bonnet and become a bonnet emblem

 

thanks chad. Joe just called me then. He's just about to start pulling down the front of the car and he'll probably call me again later today with the details. I asked him about the part failure and he said the part was definately new so there's now no question that the old mech did replace it, I'm just waiting to find out who made the part. He also said that my chances are slim to none of getting the part replaced for free... but i'll still try... even just to let them know that one of their parts failed so they can try and make sure it doesn't happen again...

i can give you all some advice though about the noise I heard just before it broke. it was like a scraping noise (i'm assuming it's the fan hitting something as it vibrates just before shearing the shaft). The noise occured at around 3000- 35000 rpm. Not 100% sure on that though as I wasn't watching the revs. It sounds like a plastic scraping noise, like imagine driving through a dust storm and all these little pieces of rock hitting the front of your car. or like a hailstones hitting your car in a storm... Very hard to explain... but if you do ever hear something that sounds like this as you're accelerating... well... I hope it doesn't happen to any of you anyways.

 

Could it be that the 100k mechanic dropped the pump bad enough to slightly bend the shaft. The vibrations induced from that could explain both the alternator bearing failure and the waterpump failure.

 

Mate sorry to hear that

Looks like you have been had on your 100000k service but I remember you telling me that you brought the full kit to have it installed by the Mechanic lets know if you need help --------------NEIL

 

Z's do seem to have a habit

of critical failure even when looked after, The new owner of my car called me to let me know he had an oil seal fail while driving down the highway, this from a car that was running perfectly and was < 5000km since a full engine rebuild (from everyones favourite Z workshop it would seem)!, so he's having the front of the engine off to replace the seal.

 

Non genuine water pumps

have a reputation for all sorts of behaviour.

If it was a genuine one, then as someone said, having the belt too tight might have fatigued it

 

sure did,he told us about it damian

 

Nah i didn't buy the kit when it was done. I probably should have provided my own parts but that was the first week I owned the zed so I didn't really know much about it and didn't know about Caz or TTZ or anything.

Was looking at TTZ for prices
Waterpump: 88.82 (is this a genuine Nissan Part?)
AC drive belt: 47.00
Fan/ alternator drive belt: 56.75 (might not need to buy this as it wasn't broken but didn't check for damage)
NA Fan shroud upper: 104.46

The listings show a lower fan shroud for the TT but not the NA so am I correct in assuming there's no lower shroud for the NA?

Also he said that the endtank was hit by the fan. Is it possible to replace the endtanks or should I try and source a used NA manual radiator?

 

thats so dodge. id be doing the 100k service Again.. your very lucky that the fan belt didnt just snap and then u would have cooked the engine 4 sure.. amazing damage there

 

Mate, for those prices (fan shroud etc.) Just buy a thermal fan. Basically the same price, but looks nicer and clears some room in the engine bay.