How bad do we really need to save money?

[budgolf]

I just don't get it. I had to put a fuel pump in my Waggy today, no big deal, but as I'm removing the old one, it looks like it's got 200,000 miles on it. Then I notice my water pumps leaking, I take a good look at it also, and it looks so old it's got dinosaur crap on it. No big deal right? My issue is, I bought this truck with a freshly rebuilt engine. Motors got like 18,000 on it. So the guy put the old water pump on the new engine! I guess it worked for a while, but I wouldn't put an old water pump on a new engine. It's not like a water pump cost 600 bucks. I can't imagine risking a new motor to save less than 50 bucks!

[Gambler68]

don't worry...you will ;)

[The PIG Smith]

I know it is not the best practice and is generally wrong to skimp on these parts, but allow me to explain.
To some of us, FSJ is a hobby and a hobby is something hard to budget for.
So, with limited funds, a person does the best he/she can.
I have done very similar things, reuse stuff I should not.

My logic, there is nothing wrong with this <fill-in-the-blank> today, let me install it, get the <Jeep, car, computer, etc..> up and going, until I can afford to replace it.

I know it would save time to do these repairs all at once, but I can not always afford to do so.
I will skimp on the cheap things, then I will change them out later.

For Example: I would prefer to drive my Jeep on a weak battery knowing it will start on a nice warm day, but knowing it will not on a cold day, or if I flood it or crank it too much, etc...so I carry jumper cables, think about what I am doing and I am fine.
Later, I bought a nearly new 975CC battery at the local junk yard for $10.
Waiting paid off for me, in this example, but it does not alway turn out to be blue sky and sunshine.

These poor practices costs me more time in the long run, but my time is free.

Now, does this give a person a license to do sloppy, sub-standard work?
By all means NO!
My goal is aways to have the best that I can, I just prorate the cost over a longer period of time than others.
If I had more budget for such things, I would not skimp on the cheap stuff.

I hope this explains why maybe the PO reused a water pump.
Then again, he may have been a super tightwad. :rolleyes:

When NOT to skimp
My SIL's father installed el-cheapo retread tires on her car.
They were not good recaps and came apart.
Skimping on safety is not acceptable!

She was from the deep south.
Even though I have not lived in WVa (my home state) for a long time, I remember that recaps on the front of passenger cars were illegal.
I dunno what the law states today.

[budgolf]

I know it is not the best practice and is generally wrong to skimp on these parts, but allow me to explain.
To some of us, FSJ is a hobby and a hobby is something hard to budget for.
So, with limited funds, a person does the best he/she can.
I have done very similar things, reuse stuff I should not.

My logic, there is nothing wrong with this <fill-in-the-blank> today, let me install it, get the <Jeep, car, computer, etc..> up and going, until I can afford to replace it.

I know it was save time to do these repairs all at once, but I can not always afford to do so.
I will skimp on the cheap things, then I will change them out later.

For Example: I would prefer to drive my Jeep on a weak battery knowing it will start on a nice warm day, but knowing it will not on a cold day, or if I flood it or crank it too much, etc...so I carry jumper cables, think about what I am doing and I am fine.
Later, I bought a nearly new 975CC battery at the local junk yard for $10.
Waiting paid off for me, in this example, but it does not alway turn out to be blue sky and sunshine.

These poor practices costs me more time in the long run, but my time is free.

Now, does this give a person a license to do sloppy, sub-standard work?
By all means NO!
My goal is aways to have the best that I can, I just prorate the cost over a longer period of time than others.
If I had more budget for such things, I would not skimp on the cheap stuff.

I hope this explains why maybe the PO reused a water pump.
Then again, he may have been a super tightwad. :rolleyes:

When NOT to skimp
My SIL's father installed el-cheapo retread tires on her car.
They were not good recaps and came apart.
Skimping on safety is not acceptable!

She was from the deep south.
Even though I have not lived in WVa (my home state) for a long time, I remember that recaps on the front of passenger cars were illegal.
I dunno what the law states today.

I guess I'm looking at it from a different perspective. Before my Army days, I built engines for a living, and I saw this happen all the time. And it just really never made sense to me. People would spend 4-5000 on a build and not want to spend another 25.00 on a water pump. And of course they wanted me to cover it when that old pump went out, got hot and blew. I completely understand needing to save some cash, Army pay isn't all that great, but a water pump is a pretty critical component. It worked out though, I spotted it in time with no troubles caused.:)

[BarryL]

I'm with you Budgolf, don't scrimp on critical items like a water pump.

[skeletor]

how do you know its been rebuilt? do you have old reciepts?

[budgolf]

how do you know its been rebuilt? do you have old reciepts?

Yep. The guy I bought it from saved everything. Like 10 years of recipts for 10 years of oil changes every 3000.

[Dirtball]

She was from the deep south.


And exactly what does THAT have to do with anything????? :D

[The PIG Smith]

And exactly what does THAT have to do with anything????? :D

LOL! It has nothing to do with it.
I was hoping it would explain why they bought el-cheapo retreaded tires, but being from West-by-god-Virginia, I have no room to throw rocks!

BYW, she was born and raised in your state! HAHAHAHAHA

[YellowJeep]

I agree with you in principle and I always put a new waterpump on a fresh engine, or when it comes off the motor if I didn't put it on originally...but as I was thinking about this, I started thinking...."Why do we do this"?

Think about it...what on a waterpump can really fail? It can start leaking out the weap-hole, or one or the gasket can start leaking. Neither of these is really going to cause an all out motor failure. In fact, the only thing I can think that would cause a serious problem would be if the pump seized all together.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'll still ALWAYS run a new pump, but I have to think there is a rebuild/recore supplier laughing all the way to the bank.

[SirPaul64]

i just put some new retread tires on my wag a few months ago and i have been nothing but pleased with them, especially at 300 bucks for 4 including shipping.

[75J20]

I'd be concerned that the water pump may not have be all that was reused like possibly the oil pump and the timing chain & gears. I would definately check the receipts to see what parts had been replaced on the invoice since you have the receipts.

That actually happened to me years ago when I bought a vehicle with a supposed rebuilt diesel motor from a co-worker who had it rebuilt or dare I say half-Great Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley Moogleyed from my supervisor, the guy squeeked when he walked.:p Ended up having the timing chain break 25 miles from our destination when pulling into a rest stop on a trip out to Iowa from CA for a family reunion.

The stock timing chain was actually a double roller chain that he reused in the '72 Mercedes Benz 220D, gutless but a sweet riding car. Had to get it towed to the closest dealer, was without a car for the week and out around $1000 for the repairs, and on the way home the fuel injector pump started going out as well, looked like a white smoke screen behind me when going up grades. I wasn't very pleased to say the least.

[joe]

I generally went with Budgolfs plan but I haven't rebuilt a motor in years.
On the flip side...with todays junk auto parts out there unless you have a chance to get quality rebuilt parts at least NAPA grade I think I'd take a chance on the old OEM water pump, starter, alt etc rather than using "anything rebuilt" from Autozone, Pepboys, Schmucks and the rest of the Taiwanese McParts unloaders....pure junk there.

[2003 mcs]

I just don't get it. I had to put a fuel pump in my Waggy today, no big deal, but as I'm removing the old one, it looks like it's got 200,000 miles on it. Then I notice my water pumps leaking, I take a good look at it also, and it looks so old it's got dinosaur crap on it. No big deal right? My issue is, I bought this truck with a freshly rebuilt engine. Motors got like 18,000 on it. So the guy put the old water pump on the new engine! I guess it worked for a while, but I wouldn't put an old water pump on a new engine. It's not like a water pump cost 600 bucks. I can't imagine risking a new motor to save less than 50 bucks!

Well maybe he did want it replaced and the shop do not do their job. When I had the engine replaced I told the shop I wanted a new air cleaner, air filter, new aluminum radiator, they showed me an aluminum radiator, told them that's what I want. I paid certified check (deposit) exactly the amount required. They did not put in aluminum radiator, air cleaner and yes they put old dirty air filter back in air cleaner. No they did not charge me, but sometimes its not the customer, its the shop being too lazy.

[Blue & Gray]

I sold auto parts for a couple years and saw a fair amount of defective water pumps come back, people are always hot to return something with a "lifetime warranty", especially when the memory is still fresh of the busted knuckle they got putting in on 9 months ago. It still looks brand new, yet it is spanked just the same. For the most part folks just wanted another pump, so the knuckle could get opened up again and they could get on with life, it didn't matter so much that the new pump was probably no better than the one they just carried back as far as quality and life expectancy. Most places are selling "brand new" water pumps, yet they are just as prone to defects as one that seen 5 different life spans and concuring rebuilds.

One school of thought could be the water pump wasn't the key reason the mill was rebuilt, worn rings, mains, lifters and engine were at fault, so why condemn something that was working just fine and replace it with a "brand new" one. I have reused water pumps, have pulled them off junk motors and bolted them on just to go spank on something in the mud. Alot of times I was working with junk and you can sorta get a junk mentality at times when the flogging of parts begins and the rig your working is hammered anyways.


It can go either way really, irony strikes hard at times and everyone who has been around Trucks Built to Play for any length of time has seen it. You'll see a guy with over a grand in new tires and wheels, three times that on custom suspension yet he's sittin on North Topsail Beach beach at night with his sweetheart and his big truck trying to figure how to get home without a single drive belt. His engine is cobbled together junk and no wonder those 39.5's sent the power steering belt flying and it took the fan and alternator belt with it. It wasn't important cause it worked just fine before with 32's.


Mundane , unsexy parts get overlooked in alot builds. Often people don't realize that a new mill w/ RV cam and 4 barrel is going to have alot more torque at the crank shaft now and every single weak link attached to it, belts, old but not leaking just yet water pump and whatnot are soon to suffer a much more punishing life cycle than before.

[FSJ Guy]

I think the issue with the water pump is that it's SO much easier to replace when the engine is out. It's not like a distributor which is easy to replace even in a snowstorm.

Kinda like motor mounts. Much easier to replace when the motor is out. So why not?

[The PIG Smith]

I guess I'm looking at it from a different perspective. Before my Army days, I built engines for a living, and I saw this happen all the time. And it just really never made sense to me. People would spend 4-5000 on a build and not want to spend another 25.00 on a water pump. And of course they wanted me to cover it when that old pump went out, got hot and blew. I completely understand needing to save some cash, Army pay isn't all that great, but a water pump is a pretty critical component. It worked out though, I spotted it in time with no troubles caused.:)

I agree 100%!
To me, $4-5K sounds like a lot of disposal income and if a person has $4-5K to spend on a rebuild, it is very silly to not replace cheap items like a water pump.

Additional, if a person reinstalls older high mileage parts, they have no reason to whine or complain when the parts goes bad.

I am sorry you had to deal with idiots that would reuse an old water pump, burn up a fresh motor and then blame you.
They were trying to cheat you because of their poor judgment of not be careful with older used parts
This is just wrong!

Because of my limited financial resources and I choose to perform such repairs, I know ahead of time the risks and accept when the part fails.
Like when I choose to use a weak battery, I knew the risks of being stranded and was prepared to deal with the consequences.
I would be very wrong to blame anyone else for having a dead battery!

[gojeepin]

if i cant afford to do it right,i wait till i can! its not fun to drive your rig if your always wondering if its going to break down

[Lindel]

Originally posted by YellowJeep

Think about it...what on a waterpump can really fail? It can start leaking out the weap-hole, or one or the gasket can start leaking. Neither of these is really going to cause an all out motor failure. In fact, the only thing I can think that would cause a serious problem would be if the pump seized all together.

I've seen the bearings go, and I've seen the shaft break. Neither of which did the radiator much good. Warning on both was nil, but both were fairly old.

I for one would look over the parts in question as well as I could, checking for play where there shouldn't be, etc. Any thing questionable I would replace, otherwise I'd leave it alone. I'd also take the age of the parts into consideration

[crispyboy]

I'll save up the $$ and try to do it right. There is nothing worse than having a vehicle that I cannot depend upon. I also figure it's cheap insurance to keep my wife safe on the road. Besides - water pumps are a pain to change out while in the vehicle.

[Long&Low]

I think a lot of it comes down to an individual's choice, and use of the vehicle. If it was someone's work truck or daily driver, then I can see the potential of re-using an already perfectly good working part.

But, if someone is building something up, as either a resto or not, then, yes, I have an issue with using an older water pump.

A lot comes down to how thick the guy's wallet was at the time. If it comes down to putting food on the table, or having a shiny new part. Well there shouldn;t be much of a thought process in that.

Now if the guy represented that the whole motor was rebuilt, and was that meticulous to keep every receipt over a ten years period, then yeah, he or his engine rebuilder went the cheap route, and that's just not right.

[Dirtball]

LOL! It has nothing to do with it.
I was hoping it would explain why they bought el-cheapo retreaded tires, but being from West-by-god-Virginia, I have no room to throw rocks!

BYW, she was born and raised in your state! HAHAHAHAHA

Smart guy!!

And by the way... THANK YOU for picking up that I was joking... a lot of folks on here don't...