Fairly new to this form and definitely new to this side of things with the older LT ones. recently picked up a 97 Trans Am everything was going great until it started wanting to overheat I removed the thermostat kept trying to bleed the system and still kept wanting to get hot one time I got frustrated and wrapped up the engine and then out of nowhere it dropped down in temperature and it really got me thinking something to do with the water pump or coupler keep in mind this is my first LT1 I’m very knowledgeable with the newer stuff but definitely not these so I pulled the water pump off saw that it seemed OK in the Cupler was not broken but then I noticed that the water pump cam gear shaft I can spend by hand sticking out of the timing cover I really don’t think it should move at all right?

 

[QUOTE=chevyboi925;20166301 I noticed that the water pump cam gear shaft I can spend by hand sticking out of the timing cover I really don’t think it should move at all right?[/QUOTE]

You should not be able to turn the WP drive spline on motor. You have to replace it. IIRC the part is not available new so its likely a ebay thing for a used one

https://www.ebay.com/itm/95-96-CHEVY...gAAOSw4GVYMSXu

 

Yup, it's cam gear driven so if you can spin it then something is broken or teeth are worn off of drive gear. Now, here's where I tell you that you can get around this with an electric water pump. Problem with that is that it leaves something to curiosity as to why the shaft is turning when it shouldn't and is there something behind the timing cover that's about to ruin your life temporarily. Personally I'd want to know what's broken. Is there any metal shavings in the oil because there should be unless someone found this problem, changed the oil and then decided to dump the car and let the new owner deal with it.
I personally hate the cam gear driven water pump, main reason is I've seen what it does to the front cam bearing. My engine was in beautiful condition when I pulled it apart the first time at just under 100,000. I had popped the ring land on a piston and was getting terrible blow by and of course I wanted to fix this issue as well as cam the car. When I took it apart and saw the wear on the front cam bearing I knew then I wasn't going to be happy with just putting a band-aid on the engine and calling it well enough. That stupid pump drive puts a ton of load on the cam bearing and worn cam bearings are a cause for low oil pressure.
My advice is to choose wisely here. Do yourself a favor and take the time and spend the few extra dollars to investigate what's actually happened here, consider your options and possibly look at it as an opportunity to add some power to the engine with some upgrades while it's apart. Hope this helps.

 

It definitely helps tremendously I already figured I could get around this with an electric water pump but you are correct I don’t know if it will last forever or if my motor is going to blow up within 10 minutes I will have to talk to my lady we got it for her I’m not familiar with these at all so pulling the intake in the oil pan and timing cover just for an inspection really



sucks

 

If you get frustrated and don’t want to put that pro charger back on I’ll take it off your hands

 

Haha that prob the only reason i got this dumb lt1 for my girl. Ihave a f1a on my ls2 truck.. if i ditch the car ill def sell the whole p1 kit for a decent price if intrested .. its got dual intercoolers and sounds sick , blows the tires off like crazy

 

Now knowing it has a procharger I would recommend either going with another stock mechanical water pump, or with an electric that flows towards the top end of the EWP spectrum. Depending on the rest of your cooling system (stock radiator vs big aftermarket), the percentage of glycol you use (water has more heat capacity and flows more), and how you drive it (lots of time at WOT for long stretches like long spirited drives or road course vs short sprints in a 1/4 mile and lots of tooling around town) will tip the scales on stock vs electric.

Electric flows a constant speed all the time, regardless of rpm, where the mechanical being spun by the cam, spins more and flows more the faster the engine goes. Normally, and maybe in all cases Im not sure, the mechanical flows more at high rpm than an EWP. The EWP flows more at low rpm. If you do long drives at high rpm, with a stock radiator, with more than 30% glycol, I would probably go mechanical. If your wife does a lot of normal driving and then some 1/4 mile time, I’d do electric to get the load off the cam and the timing chain since that procharger is already a lot of load. I honestly prefer 0% glycol, since you can’t/shouldn’t have glycol if you go on any track, since a leak shuts down the track for a while and everyone will hate you, but if it’s going to be exposed to below freezing conditions you need some. 50/50 is complete overkill for 90% of the country, even in Chicago we only use 40% glycol in our chiller loops in data centers since it gets down to -20F, Virginia only gets down to 0F so we use 30%, and Silicon Valley and sites where it barely gets into the 20s we use 10%. There’s a large penalty in cooling capacity and flow as you increase glycol. I don’t have my chart in front of me but off the top of my head for 38% glycol you lose 8% cooling capacity I think.

Glycol does have rust inhibitor tho, and that helps your system last longer, I was lazy and used hose water instead of distilled and my water/glycol looked like my car had 20 mango habanero wings from Buffalo Wild Wings when I drained it the other day.

 

Evans also has some waterless coolant out that's badass.

 

Snapped or all the teeth sheared off either way I just want to get it together so she can have fun with it for a little bit if the motor gets damaged I’m honestly just gonna put a Holly computer system with a truck 5.3 in it LOL and sell the procharger for two grandI honestly really appreciate you guys this is the water pump I ordered we got the car for really cheap so at this point even though I know it’s risky I’m just gonna put the electric water pump on and put it back together and see what happens from what I’m hearing I basically have to lift the motor up a little bit like I’m going to drop the Kj member and remove the motor anyway to get to the oil pan to be able to remove the timing cover or see if there’s any metal in the oil pan I’m not sure if the shaftSnapped or all the teeth sheared off either way I just want to get it together so she can have fun with it for a little bit if the motor gets damaged I’m honestly just gonna put a Holly computer system with a truck 5.3 in it LOL and sell the procharger for two grand Oh and as far as the water pump not going up with RPM it’s honestly not going to be some autocross car it would be a cruiser/a couple of donuts/4 mile

 

If you don't have any "sparkle" in the oil now you should be fine. I have had a EWP (same one you ordered) for 20+ years and 90k+ mi. Drive 80+ mph in 115 heat for hours back & forth to Vegas with AC on and never a overheat issue. YMMV

IIRC using the HD Meziere (longer than standard Meziere) you need to trim some of the shroud. You will find out when you install. Use a relay/fuse to wire it up

 

thanks and yeah i will run a relay and trim shroud and do oil change and hope for best

 

Also what oil conventional 5w30 orr??

 

Sure, whatever you like. I personally run Rotella T6 (5w40 full synthetic). Careful, motor oil starts wars around forums.

 

Could it be the impeller on the water pump has slipped of of the shaft? It happened to me with a cheap ebay lt1 water pump. I opened the front cover of the water pump and I saw that the impeller was spining freely. I had the same symptoms as you.

 

I actually remove the water pump from the engine and I can spend the gear sticking out of the timing cover