Electric water pump = Overheating issues?

Ok, so I have an '05 that I just finished building the motor on.

While doing the build (Industrial Injection did machine work/assembly), II suggested an electric water pump to avoid the possibility of blowing freeze plugs (I'll be running a 4k rpm tune).

I was a little concerned about the possibility of insufficient flow at higher rpm/load. Well, last night I was pushing through a canyon (unloaded) in 55* weather, and I noticed the truck started to heat up a little bit. In fact, it reached 224, and I had NEVER before seen temps above 210 while towing a loaded trailer with the stock motor/mechanical water pump.

So, in short, my concern was validated last night, and now I'm wondering if this is a common issue with those running an electric water pump, and if there are any viable solutions (other than a bypass) that can be implemented.

If not, I'll have to switch back to the mechanical pump, and run the bypass.

Bump!

Called CSR to find out the operating RPM for this pump. They said at free-rev, it turns 2500rpm with a 12 volt supply. I asked about the possibility of running a fuel pump voltage booster for when the truck gets hotter, and they said the maximum allowable voltage is 16 volts, but they didn't have any RPM #s for the pump at the voltage.

Typically their standard pumps supply 35 - 37 gpm, but that's their pumps with their own impellers and housings. Apparently CSR does not build the housing or supply the impeller for these pumps, but only the motor. So they have no idea how much this pump really flows.

Industrial Injection isn't all too helpful, either. Seems like the pumps were just handed to them with no data to back them up, other than that they are supposed to help prevent freeze plugs from popping out of the block on high RPM applications.

Any input would be greatly appreciated from those who have experience with this style pump (I know there are more options besides the CSR motor).

One other thing I thought of. The pump came with absolutely no instructions. It has a blue and black wire. I made the assumption that the black wire is the ground wire, but I guess there's the possibility that (for some weird reason) the black is actually the power wire, and the blue the ground.

Why they wouldn't use a red and black wire is beyond me. It would seem to make things pretty clear on which wire is what.

I suppose that even when hooked up backwards, the pump could still function to pump water through the block, although I can imagine it would be at a much reduced rate than what is intended.

Again, I called II about this, and they didn't know for certain, either...but I asked them to test one of the motors they have in stock to see what the polarity should be. They agreed to test it and share the results. We shall see if they come through on this.

Really? No one has any input?

Bump!

Just another update:

I confirmed that I was getting a good clean voltage signal at the pump. It was seeing around 14.5 volts, so there wouldn't have been much in the way of voltage boosting that I could do. 1.5 volts would hardly make up for the lack of flow/pump rpm that was needed.

I swapped the mechanical pump back in today, and took the truck up some canyons. It worked perfectly! Held 197 up the canyon with no signs of heating up beyond that.

Overall, I'm pretty disappointed in the electrical pump, especially considering that Industrial Injection still stands by it saying that EVERY other truck that they have put an electric pump on has worked out flawlessly in daily driven applications.

Just upon visual inspection after pulling it out today, I noticed 2 things.

1) The difference in the impeller of the stock pump vs the electric pump is HUGE. The stock impeller seems MUCH more aggressive than the one found on the electric pump.

2) The electric pump is supposed to run 2500 rpm (freewheeling), which would likely mean that with a load (pumping water) it would spin about 1800 - 2000 rpm.

The stock pump pulley diameter is at least half the size of the crank pulley. This means that for any given engine rpm, the rpm of the pump is at leas 2x that. So, running at 1500 rpm would mean the pump was turning 3000 rpm.

It now seems pretty obvious to me why the electric pump is insufficient for cooling the motor.

Moral of the story (as has already been established in the past...I just had a hard time accepting it), DO NOT RUN AN ELECTRIC WATER PUMP on a street driven truck!

I would agree, a mechanical pump with a bypass for a DD is the only way to go. We had alot of electric pump seal issues.

Well, I hate to give off the impression of wishy washy, but I have to re-update this thread.

I found out that the polarity of the water pump was backwards, afterall. I talked to one of the mechanics at Industrial, and he had a wiring diagram for the pump in his notes. So, upon finding this out, I decided to give the Electric Water Pump another shot.

So far so good! The weather today was in the mid to high 70's, and I got on the truck about as hard as it's seen since the new motor, and the temps stayed in the mid 190's, an didn't budge from there.

So it seems it may work out alright afterall. I am most certainly going to have to carry the mechanical water pump and necessary tools to change it around with me in the event that the electric pump gives up the ghost (I've becoming quite the pro at swapping water pumps on these rigs). Now, I just need to wait til next week to get the TNT-R tune, and we'll see how 4k rpms feels!

I = Stoked!

why not just clip the stock pump and make sure you put in the circulating freeze plug in the back of the head

i have a stock water pump and run the 4k tune never blown a freeze plug

I wouldn't run an electric on a daily driver!!! Last one I saw installed lasted for about 5min of run time before it started leaking

Forrest Nearing said:

I wouldn't run an electric on a daily driver!!! Last one I saw installed lasted for about 5min of run time before it started leaking

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Yeah, I understand the possible risks I'm taking with this pump. Fortunately for me, most of my commute (to work, or whatever) is not far from home, and if I end up having an issue, it isn't a big deal to get it back home to swap it back to the mechanical pump.

So far, I have about 1200 miles on this electric pump, and it's working great now that the polarity is correct. It still works the nerves over a little bit when I think about the possible issues I could run into. But as stated, I take comfort in knowing I won't be far from home.

On a side note, I took the truck to the dyno today (I also put a new turbo on it; a Silver Bullet 66mm), and it put down 637 whp, and approx. 1400 lbs/ft torque (approximate because I had to hand calculate it since the dyno tachometer wasn't working). These numbers are UNCORRECTED @ 4500 ft. elevation.

The SAE corrected numbers are 732 whp, approx 1600 lbs/ft torque.