Water Pump Gunk

Has anyone ever found anything like this horrible looking slime and crystals lurking in their cooling system? Hopefully it's not a sign of anything more serious. It's only ever had proper coolant in the system, so I'm a bit surprised it's so bad. I'm going to replace the pump as the impeller is looking a bit flaky (literally), although there's probably still life left in it.

Looking around there seem to be three options (or four if you want to pay Land Rover £275). Would it be better to pay a bit extra and go for a Proflow one (who seem to be the OEM), or are Bearmach or Britpart ones actually alright?

Looks to me either a cooling system that has had just plain water, a good flush wouldn't go a miss

Someone may have put a sealant of some sort in there at one time - or even an egg ...

i had a britpart one and the impeller came off the rod bit, might not happen to you but i would go OEM every time.....

See that tide mark on the impeller and in the block? i would say it has sat with low or no coolant coolant for quite some time.

lynall said:

See that tide mark on the impeller and in the block? i would say it has sat with low or no coolant coolant for quite some time.

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You're spot on there. It's been sat for ten years and when I started the rebuild there was no coolant to be seen. The radiator was pretty shot so I think it all escaped that way.

flat said:

i had a britpart one and the impeller came off the rod bit, might not happen to you but i would go OEM every time.....

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Thanks for confirming what should have been obvious really! That's been my approach to most of the rebuild. OEM unless it's not critical.

Dippypud said:

Someone may have put a sealant of some sort in there at one time - or even an egg ...

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Could be. It didn't happen during my ownership though - honest.

Resurgam said:

Thanks for confirming what should have been obvious really! That's been my approach to most of the rebuild. OEM unless it's not critical.

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yeah I had to strip it all down again within some 6 months or so, my thinking was ‘how can they get a water pump wrong’ but clearly they did!

agreed OEM for critical or structural stuff tbh

Resurgam said:

You're spot on there. It's been sat for ten years and when I started the rebuild there was no coolant to be seen. The radiator was pretty shot so I think it all escaped that way.

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Maybe fit the old pump and add some central heating cleaner, and run for a few miles, then dump the lot refill with fresh water do the same again, then new pump and coolant?

lynall said:

Maybe fit the old pump and add some central heating cleaner, and run for a few miles, then dump the lot refill with fresh water do the same again, then new pump and coolant?

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Sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately the day I'll be able to drive it, or even start it up, is a distant dream! I'll give it a flush out with a hose and see what happens.

Resurgam said:

Sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately the day I'll be able to drive it, or even start it up, is a distant dream! I'll give it a flush out with a hose and see what happens.

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Kilrock Big K kettle descaler is also good gear, has to be used with hot water, cleaned out my old series 2 rad pretty good.