2003 Ram 2500HD 5.9l

I noticed it when I lost my steering and brakes last night after parking. Went to take off again, and it's all dead. In the dark last night I couldn't see the belt was off, checked the PS, and the cap popped off with pressure. It hasn't been weeping or making any noise, levels been good every time I check it. I've read about the cap vent getting clogged; I'll clean it with brake clean, see if that unclogs it.

This is a new belt last fall, with the new water pump I had to put on. Since then, it's been going off track on the a/c pulley, jumping one rib toward the engine about once every 2 months.

So I go out to check it out this morning, and the one year old water pump is bad. Not as bad as the last one: it's making noise and has the smallest amount of lateral shaft play you could probably detect by hand, but it's not leaking yet. The last one was leaking, and had about 1/16th inch of play in the shaft.

Everything else seems good. A/C, alternator power steering and all idlers are quiet and smooth, no play or anything.

OK, I admit, I put a rebuilt water pump on last time: the only OEM pumps I could find here in Spokane were $200 to $220, and the rebuilt was about $125.

So am I missing anything? New WP, check the PS cap for venting. I'm still concerned about the belt going off track. I guess it could've been the rebuilt WP failing right away, and mucking everything up.

 

updated my signature, hoped it would show up on the other post, here it is:

 

aint the power steering ran off of the gears inside the timing case? or did they change that in 2003?

 

I was wondering that myself until the sun came up this morning. Looks like it runs off the serp belt unless I'm seeing things.

Found a new lifetime warranty water pump at Napa for $48, serp belt for $40. Same belt was $75 at the same Napa a year ago, water pumps unavailable then.

I'll use a little coolant to lube the water pump seal unless anyone says otherwise.

 

i jsut replace the WP on my truck with a cummins one and installed it dry. it dont leak yet. but i dont read the instructions to see how to install the seal.

 

Check your tensioner assy, might be going.

 

That was my first thought.

 

Tensioner seems OK, how would I know? Roller has no play or noise, spring feels strong.

Got it all back together, new WP, serp belt, coolant. Old WP was actually leaking, just not enough to see, bearing was rough, noisy.

I wonder if the old coolant wasn't any good. I bought this truck used from a Dodge dealer (August 2008), they showed me records that all fluids had been changed right before I bought it, but the 1 year old (October 08) WP has rust on the cast iron. Since it was new coolant, I just replaced what fell out with new 60/40 HOAT (Zerex g 05, I think it was), used distilled water.

One more follow up question: still has pressure in the PS reservoir, after cleaning the cap with brake clean, cap looks pristine. So what's the deal here, should I start a new thread over in 2003-7 3rd gen drivetrain? The trucks back on the road, anyway, thanks for the help.

 

Don't know about yours but mine has a teflon pad that the movable part rides on. When the teflon wears out the roller is cocked off to one side and the belt comes off.

 

I'll check that, thanks.

 

It was a bad belt tensioner. The pulley had a deep groove worn into it, so it looked like it had flanges, and the teflon was worn so it sat crooked. With the belt off, it looked normal, no play or noise, but with the belt on, it was running off the inside.

Went to get a new tensioner, the first one, a Dayco was total junk: plastic, roller, radial play built in, looked like a cheap training wheel for a kids bike. Found a Gates brand at Napa, has a solid metal roller, good bearings, the tensioner side looks beefier, and has a lifetime warranty.

I wonder how many of these trucks that shred belts have the cheaper tensioners?

Thanks for all the help.

 

check to make sure the replacement pully was the same width as the origional.
when i swapped out my alternator, had to switch back to the OEM pully.