Vadim @ FD

In the last several months, I have had to deal with failing IC pumps at least 3-4 times a day, either replacing them or assisting someone on the phone.

Mine finally failed as well so I decided to open it up and see what is the cause.



Pump on the right is a good stock one, pump on the left is a bad one. Obviously one can see cracked and fallen apart stator. This also explains why some fail intermittently. The cracks likely to appear slowly and over time get bigger, until complete failure.

Tech-Tune

I've often wondered why/how they fail.
Nice of you to share your findings.

lbE55

Think of all the BS that one little part has caused!

So, in technical terms, “pump go boom.”

The car is doing great, Vadim.

Mark.

I Like Soup

Good info!

I wonder how the Johnson pump (or any other pump solution) compare to the stock unit.

PTE

Vadim ; Nice find , That is what we were seeing on the marine units that are magnetic drive. I switched back to direct drive CO models. CO 90 models are a little noisey as compaired to the Magnetic Drive CM 90. same goes for the other CM 30 types. That is the reason I switched Brand of pumps. Cheers ___PTEngineering

Oxygen

That stator is rubber? Metal? Plastic? Can't tell from the picture...

MB_Forever

Vadim, I heard Bosch updated their IC pump in 07..... is the new model any better at all or still same basic problems?

Vadim @ FD

Stator is a magnet. Short of doing failure analyses, the cause is anyones guess at this time.

So far have not seen any new, replacement pump failures.

Vadim @ FD

CM30 is rated at 22 liters per minute, stock Bsoch pump is at 15 LPM.

So far have not seen any CM30 failures. CM90 on my C32 went for 120,000 miles and still doing strong on my friend's SLK32.

cruzinquick

Is there any correlation to mileage? The SRT6's had more failures it seemed from not being used and drying up thus cracking. The original owners who bought new and drove them as daily drivers seemed to not have this problem, and if so at much higher mileage. Some of our cars sat for 2 years in Germany waiting for the boat.

The rest is normal wear and tear on that part, unless the internals of the Johnson pumps are designed different I would suspect failure after a year and half of use. This plastic part is subjected to as much strain as the cast water pump.

shardul

iTrader: (1)

Good finding. Thanks for reporting

jikjak

wow, thanks for the info in this post!

besides the ecu shutting off the s/c after a couple hard runs, is there any other way to tell if my i/c pump is failing?

just the other day it seemed like my car didnt have as much tq. i didnt do any hard runs though and the temp outside is around 40F. im gonna try to take it out on the hwy tomorrow to get a better feel at full throttle and higher speeds.

bobgodd

When I installed my CM30 pump I pulled the old Bosch unit apart and mine was still in tact. Though I did not check for cracks, it seemed to be in decent shape. There was a LOT of magnet dust in there though, about half a handful dumped out.

I pulled the old pump apart because I wanted to reuse the connector on it, so it would mate up nicely with the female connector already on the car.

Zod

just get updated pump from MB.
case solved and it is a recall from what i recall

nice info non the less vadim...any news on the refund?

Vader55

CM30 FTW!!

Eurocharged Canada

We have seen the updated model fail as well, but not with a cracked stator. The dust buildup was so bad it would only run after the "hammer treatment."

Nice pics.

Hammer Down

Hammer Treatment I didn't do anything...

MJ50

hope my EWP80 won't turn out like that...

over the edge

that is not how my pumped failed. The pump side looked fine, with the exception of a lot of what looked like brush dust. I haven't cracked open the rest of the case yet but i suspect the brushes are completely worn, as they tend to last less than bearings.

My symptom was not complete failure, just very slow intermittent turning. Testing the pump in my sink it looks like it would pump about 1 gallon per hour.

See pics here: http://shapor.com/pics/cars/sl55/icpump/

over the edge

btw, what has fallen apart in this picture is not a stator, it is a magnetic drive for the pump. I suspect this is for easy starting and less load on the motor, as there is no direct connection, just magnetic. The motor is contained in the black part of the housing.

jicl55

Yeah, I'm one of those guys whose IC pump just failed and bothered Vadim. Failed a couple of days ago (lasted 55k miles tho).... mine probably looks the same huh? Maybe we can crack mine open next week and see what it looks like? Johnson CM30 on the way Vadim

Ohbev

is the cm90 better then the cm30 for cooling ? and will any of these pump's add a little more hp since they might cool better then the stock pump ?

bev

jangy

A higher capacity pump being "better" or otherwise is up for debate right now. Some think the CM30 is better since it will take a longer time to recycle the coolant. Some think more flow is better.

No pump will add power, but a proper cooling system will maintain the temperature so that the higher temps do not take power away.

I personally like a larger pump, because i want the cooling system to be optimal during all driving conditions. I am also starting to sway from the idea that the CM30 is better even for drag racing, since any pump would be recycling heated coolant between heating up the tires and staging...

Amen

MY CAR'S FAILED AT ROCKINGHAM/PINKS ALL OUT, POOR TIMING. MY 2003 S/C HARLEY TRUCK INTERCOOLER PUMP RUNS FULLTIME AND HAS NEVER BROKEN. THE INTERCOOLER FLUID IS SEPARATE THOUGH. THINK MERCEDES GETS HOTTER WATER AND BAKES THE PUMP STATOR TIL IT FALLS APART?