Water Pump And Thermostat Housing Recommendations

liquidfluidity

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What's everyone using for water pump, thermostat housing, and thermostat replacements? I have a slight leak starting and am trying to head it off before catastrophe...... Of course we're experiencing negative temps right now and my garage is not heated very well :( Anything else I should be looking at while things are apart. Hoses are already new as the radiator was replaced by he PO.

Let me know what you're using and linkage always helps. Pre-thanks!
 
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I just rebuilt my whole cooling system. I have a 4.0l and I bought my waterpump from the dealer. It was like $260 bucks, but the ones on amazon were like $35. Maybe that is economic sense, but I figured I have something like 190K miles on the factory pump so far, that I was going to try my luck again with a factory pump. Although they are not hard to replace, I don't like to do the same work twice if I can help it, so I opted for factory. As for the tstat, I bought a 195 Stant. I just went to the local Napa to get it so I don't have a link, but I think it was less than 10 dollars and even easier to change than the water pump.

I didn't replace my tstat housing as it was still OK in my opinion. All of my hoses came from Napa also.
 
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Water pump - OEM dealer mopar

Tstat housing - I bought a few different ones didn't see much difference between them.

Gaskets - felpro don't use any gasket sealers or rtv. Make sure everything is very clean, lightly sand the surfaces to ensure all old gasket removed

T stat - oem or stant superstat. Don't use a fail safe

Belt - I'm a fan of gatorback. Now made by continental.

Coolant - Zerex G-05 or equivalent

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
Make sure everything is very clean, lightly sand the surfaces to ensure all old gasket removed

Most important step right here. The smallest piece of leftover debris will cause your system to leak. I spent well over an hour carefully cleaning mine with a razor blade.
 
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Anyone know what the correct constant pressure hose clamp is for the small hose going to the thermostat housing? I believe the other end goes to the heater core. Looking for the thermostat housing end, as it has been replaced with a regular hose clamp. Thanks!
 
Yeah, I have changed a few before so the process is pretty well ingrained. I was more concerned in what parts people were using. Seems like OEM. That pump price is pretty crazy though..... Thanks for the responses thus far! :)

Anyone using an aftermarket pump?
 
Anyone know what the correct constant pressure hose clamp is for the small hose going to the thermostat housing? I believe the other end goes to the heater core. Looking for the thermostat housing end, as it has been replaced with a regular hose clamp. Thanks!

If it's the 5/8 hose, mine has 24 stamped on both clamps.

The 11/16, bigger hose, has 27 stamped on both clamps.
 
Anyone know what the correct constant pressure hose clamp is for the small hose going to the thermostat housing? I believe the other end goes to the heater core. Looking for the thermostat housing end, as it has been replaced with a regular hose clamp. Thanks!
Here you go...

76434
 
@Jerry Bransford , you helped me with a hose clamp before, thank you. Do you know what those numbers stamped on the OEM clamps refer to?

Is it a metric measurement or just some numbers someone decided label them as?
 
Yeah, I have changed a few before so the process is pretty well ingrained. I was more concerned in what parts people were using. Seems like OEM. That pump price is pretty crazy though..... Thanks for the responses thus far! :)

Anyone using an aftermarket pump?

Other places sell OEM Mopar parts than the dealership. You might try Rockauto or other places like that. Others will probably have even better recommendations. The dealership is always going to be the highest price.

EDIT - Just read a post on another Jeep forum that recommended FlowKooler water pumps. Apparently they last long. And have a billet aluminum blades that push 60% more coolant than stock. This was just a post on a forum. I'm sure more knowledgeable folks can chime in on this.
 
Other places sell OEM Mopar parts than the dealership. . . .

^^ This.

It is seldom a mistake to go with genuine Mopar parts, which are often available at better than dealer prices from other vendors. It pays to shop around.

There are also good aftermarket brands, but none of the good ones are parts store house brands. A parts store lifetime warranty for a rebuilt "Neverlast" or "Valuecrap" water pump is meaningless if what that means is the store will replace 10 of them for free and you get do 10 installs of the same lousy part.

Sometimes, however, an aftermarket part is as good as the corresponding factory part. There are good aftermarket water pumps and I have used some on previous jeeps I owned with no premature failures. Sometimes the question to ask is not how good a part is but instead which brand part has the fewest warranty claims and/or returns, also what brand water pump is most often and least often replaced. Then decide whether the price differential between Mopar and that aftermarket part you have in mind is enough to warrant taking a chance.

Sometimes it is; sometimes it isn't.
 
EDIT - Just read a post on another Jeep forum that recommended FlowKooler water pumps. Apparently they last long. And have a billet aluminum blades that push 60% more coolant than stock. This was just a post on a forum. I'm sure more knowledgeable folks can chime in on this.
Stick with the Mopar water pump which is more than up to keeping the engine cool in all conditions. As designed, the OE cooling system has a lot of reserve capacity for even extremely hot conditions like we get out here in our SoCal deserts. The last time I used something that reportedly performed better than stock, a Screamin' Demon ignition coil, it failed out in the middle of the desert within a year of installing it. That was like 20 years ago, I learned my lesson. I'm done with aftermarket parts that are critical to engine operation.
 
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Thanks Jerry. Always nice to hear from you.

So, aside from the pump, t-stat, housing, belt - anything else to check out while it's apart? How do I check the clutch operation within the fan? Does it either work or not work?
 
How do I check the clutch operation within the fan? Does it either work or not work?
While not foolproof, this is the usually suggested way to check the fan clutch. When the engine is cold you should be able to spin the fan by hand rather easily. When the engine is hot the fan should be much harder to spin by hand. The fan clutch is controlled by a viscous fluid inside it that thickens when hot and thins when cold.
 
Thanks KCsTJ. Yes, I heard about this brand of thermostats from so many people. Can you tell me the latest product of it or suggest one of its product that you used it before.
I keep a new Stant 195* thermostat in my new parts bin as a just in case.

If you need a t stat the best one to get for your jeep is a Stant thermostat. Be sure and order the 195 degree t stat.
 
I keep a new Stant 195* thermostat in my new parts bin as a just in case.

If you need a t stat the best one to get for your jeep is a Stant thermostat. Be sure and order the 195 degree t stat.
Does it need to have a little bypass hole drilled in it?
 
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