Tag: Mickey’s Garage

If you read “Sometimes Things Don’t Go Your Way” you saw that I thought I had a failing water pump. The “new” water pump was only a few months old so it was quite out of the ordinary for it to be failing. I took the Range Rover to Mickey’s Garage on Monday to have it looked at. It turned out it was not the water pump.

So the sound I heard was definitely a failing bearing. It turned out to be the belt tensioner pulley’s bearing. The pulley is attached to the water pump by a bracket that mounts directly to the water pump. So any noise from the pulley would be transmitted up to the water pump housing. That’s where I put the screw driver “stethoscope” to confirm it was the water pump and not the NEW power steering pump I just installed.

I have a video of the sound. You can hear it as I rev the motor. It’s the prrrrrr sound as the engine winds down.

Mickey’s wise words, “I would not drive that to S.C.A.R.R. without replacing it.” had me stopping at Rover Cannibal on the way home Tuesday. I went in and talked to Ryan. I told him what I needed and he said what I already new, “Those are getting hard to find.” Indeed this is the case. He called “KC” over and together we went up stairs to the bin. KC’s knowledge of where everything is located in that warehouse is impressive. I explained to him that there were two types of pulleys used on the Range Rovers. Once we got to the bin I showed him how they were mirror images of the other. I found a good one and was ready to get out. Once again Ryan and Rover Cannibal had what I needed.

I determined to place the pulley in my spares box for the trip. The growl has been going on for a while and I was not in the mood to swap another part last night. I called Mr. Fisher over to help but at the last-minute decided that if it did fail all I would lose is the belt and I have a spare in the spares box.

I knocked the grease and surface browning off with my wire wheel. I painted it up and have it ready to pack.

S.C.A.R.R. is this weekend and I have only one other task to complete. I must do an oil change this weekend. I hit 206,000 miles and that 6 is divisible by three so 3 thousand miles have passed. Time to put in some more Castrol 20w50 and a new Wix oil filter.

I’m working on a way to service these pulleys. The bearings are behind a cover in the center of the pulley. If this housing can be removed and replaced, or reinstalled, it would allow for repacking the bearings with grease. More investigation is warranted. Thankfully I have a damaged one I can practice on.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.