Broken water pump pieces

[Ross1]

So my car suddenly started overheating, to the point that the warning light started flashing and the temperature guage quickly ran up to 250. Knowing this is not good, I shut down the engine. After it cooled down, I opened the coolant cap. I heard a gurgling noise and looked under the car to see coolant flowing out from the middle. So off to work I went on tearing things apart to find the problem. I determined the fluid was coming from the water pump, so I removed it. My problem is that a piece of the impeller was broken off and obviously is inside the cooling system and possibly blocking a radiator. Does anybody know the best way to flush out the broken piece?

Thanks,

Ross

[RFM]

Take a look in to the thermostat housing, with a little luck the broken part is still there.

[Ross1]

No luck on finding the part in the thermostat. Does anybody have a diagram of the coolant system, so I can determine the next place to look?

Thanks!

[JFP in PA]

I hate to say this, but you are probably not going to find all the bits. We see broken impellers blades from time to time, and I'm resonably sure we rarely get all the bits out..........................not a good thing, but without disassebling the system, I'm not sure you can.

Edited December 7, 2010 by JFP in PA

[Loren]

No luck on finding the part in the thermostat. Does anybody have a diagram of the coolant system, so I can determine the next place to look?

Thanks!

Follow the direction arrows to see the next downstream locations.

1- Water pump

2 - Crankcase

3 - Thermostat

4 - Radiator

5 - Heat exchanger, heating

6 - Oil-to-water heat exchanger

7 - ATF heat exchanger (Tiptronic only)

8 - Electric shut-off valve (Tiptronic only)

9 - Expansion tank

10 - Shut-off valve

11 - Venting line (engine)

12 - Venting line (radiator)

13 - Oil separator

14 - Radiator (Tiptronic only)

[Ross1]

Thanks Loren!

[xavi.ordonez]

No luck on finding the part in the thermostat. Does anybody have a diagram of the coolant system, so I can determine the next place to look?

Thanks!

Check out Pedrosgarage.com very helpful for bleeding the cooling system.