5.9 Cummins owners?

[Jerry Hall]

I may be lucky, but I have replaced the water pump on my 04 2500 Cummins 3 times, now at 374K. Used an O'Reilly's lifetime warranty pump each time. The labor is minimal and they have all lasted over 100K miles. The original pump went at 60K.

 

[Triplegreen500]

So far so good with the FlowKooler. Had to go an hour to tow a dead Dakota home last week, temp stayed nice and low, zero leaks. Fingers crossed this is a good one! Old one had a bearing failure / shaft wobble; hopefully my belt tensioner isn't defective and putting too much pressure on the belt!

 

[33 IMP]

I may be lucky, but I have replaced the water pump on my 04 2500 Cummins 3 times, now at 374K. Used an O'Reilly's lifetime warranty pump each time. The labor is minimal and they have all lasted over 100K miles. The original pump went at 60K.

Good choice. Most don't realize a lifetime warrantee is for the lifetime of the business, not the part or the owner.
Bought a lifetime warrantee smog pump, lasted two years..... which was about 18 months longer than the parts store.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Flowkooler makes a water pump for the 5.9/6.7 Cummins and I run in my 6.7 and have zero complaints.

 

[Triplegreen500]

That's what I put in my 5.9 and so far I love it. Rock steady temps, empty or loaded, towing or not, flat or mountains.

 

[68-500]

I’ve put several hundreds of thousands of miles on Dodges with 5.9 Cummins. I find I replace a water pump every 75k or so. I’ve tried all kinds if brands and price ranges. It just doesn’t seen to matter. I’ve thought about disassembling and replacing the bearings with SKF or the like on the next failure. Maybe I can get 100k out of 1.

 

[Triplegreen500]

Makes me wonder if the belt tensioner is designed with too much pressure....I've run into that on some belt-drive motorcycles that have belt tensioners. Lots of drive belt replacements. I egged the mounting holes on my tensioner last time I serviced the bike, to allow slightly reduced tension (but still enough to keep on track) by letting the tensioner be mounted in a slightly rotated-away position. We'll see how that does. I get about 15k out of a belt the old way; coming up on that now on belt #3, we'll see if it goes longer. (I carry a spare regardless, and can change one roadside with hand tools - also carry a tool bag - in about 20 minutes). I also have older belt-drive bikes where you throw the book tension spec in the garbage, and run the belt "scary loose" (no tensioner), to prevent damage to transmission output shaft bearings. I just had to rebuild a transmission in one of my bikes, due to the previous owner keeping the belt too tight. A too-tight drive belt can also damage rear wheel bearings, to the point that Buell Motorcycles actually came out with a three-bearing rear wheel in 2010 as a retrofit to many of its motorcycles (2 YUGE bearings stacked on the belt side of the axle, and a single bearing on the brake side), in the name of durability and strength. I run a 3 bearing wheel on my go-to bike, with zero issues; I had to put new bearings in the OEM 2 bearing wheel at 20k miles. Bike is just shy of 50k now.

I do replace my tensioners on the Cummins (or any car with one, for that matter) if they stick or click. Run the vehicle and watch the tensioner, if it jumps around in sudden, large increments...it's bad. Small, constant movements are pretty normal, but occasional, big movements (usually accompanied by clicks) are no bueno. If the belt flops around...tensioner is bad, and has failed in the loose position. If the tensioner is HAARRRDDDD to get out of the way for a belt change...it's bad. There should be pressure, but not hernia-inducing, "where's my 10' breaker bar" work. I get all mine off with a standard 1/2" drive ratchet. If I feel clicking when I'm releasing it to remove the belt...I buy a new one when I buy the new belt.

But I am glad I'm not the only one "going through water pumps"....

 

[33 IMP]

Makes me wonder if the belt tensioner is designed with too much pressure....I've run into that on some belt-drive motorcycles that have belt tensioners. Lots of drive belt replacements. I egged the mounting holes on my tensioner last time I serviced the bike, to allow slightly reduced tension (but still enough to keep on track) by letting the tensioner be mounted in a slightly rotated-away position. We'll see how that does. I get about 15k out of a belt the old way; coming up on that now on belt #3, we'll see if it goes longer. (I carry a spare regardless, and can change one roadside with hand tools - also carry a tool bag - in about 20 minutes). I also have older belt-drive bikes where you throw the book tension spec in the garbage, and run the belt "scary loose" (no tensioner), to prevent damage to transmission output shaft bearings. I just had to rebuild a transmission in one of my bikes, due to the previous owner keeping the belt too tight. A too-tight drive belt can also damage rear wheel bearings, to the point that Buell Motorcycles actually came out with a three-bearing rear wheel in 2010 as a retrofit to many of its motorcycles (2 YUGE bearings stacked on the belt side of the axle, and a single bearing on the brake side), in the name of durability and strength. I run a 3 bearing wheel on my go-to bike, with zero issues; I had to put new bearings in the OEM 2 bearing wheel at 20k miles. Bike is just shy of 50k now.

I do replace my tensioners on the Cummins (or any car with one, for that matter) if they stick or click. Run the vehicle and watch the tensioner, if it jumps around in sudden, large increments...it's bad. Small, constant movements are pretty normal, but occasional, big movements (usually accompanied by clicks) are no bueno. If the belt flops around...tensioner is bad, and has failed in the loose position. If the tensioner is HAARRRDDDD to get out of the way for a belt change...it's bad. There should be pressure, but not hernia-inducing, "where's my 10' breaker bar" work. I get all mine off with a standard 1/2" drive ratchet. If I feel clicking when I'm releasing it to remove the belt...I buy a new one when I buy the new belt.

But I am glad I'm not the only one "going through water pumps"....

I felt the mono belt had too much tension on my stuff too. I had to replace almost everything driven with that belt on my 454 dually, and EVERYTHING on my 302/5sp fox mustang.