The chances of everything failing at the same time is pretty small. That
being said it is possible that multiple components were in the process of
failing and it only took one additional event to provide the strain to throw
the rest over the edge (so to speak)

How long should a water pump last? Well... They are generally guaranteed
for a year (at least) and I have had them fail at less than one year. But
them my neighbor has a 1966 Galaxy Convertible that is still on the factory
installed pump.

Perhaps we should have a brief aside on mass production. Most of the mass
produced parts will perform adequately for many years. A few are
extraordinarily well made and unfortunately a few should never have left the
factory as they did not meet specs straight out of the box. This means it
is possible to buy defective OEM parts. Sometimes a part is just poorly
designed to its intended use. I had a 1970 Mercury Montego that had 4
waterpumps in the 3 years I had the car. The longest any of the pumps lasted
was 9 months and were all replaced by Ford as a warranty failure.

My belief is, and I think most here would back me up, is that most premature
failures are caused by a lack of proper maintenance. Now I did not say that
the factory recommended maintenance schedule was not followed. If you
change your oil at the factory recommended 7,500 miles you deserve to have
an engine failure if you drive the way that most people drive. Most people
are not salesmen who drive 35,000 miles a year.

In the case of cooling system components the main cause of failure is
insufficient concentration of coolant followed by failure to regularly flush
the cooling system. It has only been in recent years that the coolant
companies said publicly that concentrations less than 50% will protect you
from freezing in the south but this same lowered concentration will not
protect your cooling system from corrosion and cavitation. Yes, they have
for many years recommended 50-50 but I don't recall any Prestone commercial
that came out and said that you needed 50-50 to prevent corrosion.

If you go to the auto parts store today you will see that Prestone now
offers a "lifetime guarantee" coolant. I wonder if their concept of
"lifetime" is the same as mine. Perhaps they mean that it should last until
you sell the car.

If you rely on the claim that antifreeze is good for 5 years or 150,000
miles....... good luck to you. Perhaps it does last that long but I am not
willing to chance it. Old fashioned "American Green" antifreeze costs $8.99
a gallon and must be changed no longer than 2 years. The new Xerex G-05
coolant from Valvoline required for 2002 and newer Chrysler (and ford and
Mercedes) cost me $9.99 a gallon and supposedly lasts 5 years.

Once I began scheduled,2 year, cooling system flushes and replacement about
25 years ago I have had one cooling system failure and it was at 160,000
miles on a car we got at 113,000 miles that had a questionable maintenance
history (ex-wife gave her old car to our daughter)

Some of you wonder why Bill is ALWAYS "HARPING" on regular maintenance.
Bill has 40+ years of automotive experience including owing the Chevron
garage where he made a good living from people who couldn't be bothered to
change their oil or antifreeze regularly, or even check the air in their
tires.

Do I waste money on my extra preventive maintenance? Yes, but you can buy a
lot of oil and filters and antifreeze with the cost of your car's first trip
on the back of a wrecker. Have my cars ever been on "the hook"? Sure they
have but not for lack of maintenance.

Now that diatribe is over what should you do?

Have you kept antifreeze at 50%? I ask because I am wondering if the new
radiator is still sound. When you put your hand over the coils is the
temperature consistent over the entire face? Cool spots can indicate an
area that is plugged.

Thermostats only cost a couple dollars. They have a very long service life
but if the thermostat or radiator cap is a possibility it would be silly to
not change it to save $5.

Water pumps are relatively cheap, so are fan clutches. (~$30-$40 each).
Make sure your water pump impeller pumps the right way, some pump in
reverse....

For ~$100 you can replace everything including the antifreeze and be off to
a new scheduled life.

PS
Do we know why the original cooling system failed a year and a half ago?






"YouGoFirst" > wrote in message
...
>>> It has gone up just over the next gauge mark, which I think is 235. I
>>> think that it would have kept on going if I hadn't been moving agian.
>>>
>>> Where would the aux fan be, I looked, and haven't found one, unless it
>>> is
>>> between the AC coils and the radiator.
>>
>> Yep, that's too hot. I'm not even sure if your GC has the aux fan.
>> The XJ/MJ has an electric fan to the driver's behind the radiator that
>> cycles with the a/c and/or the high temp switch in the radiator.
>>
>
> What are the chances of nearly all of the components in the cooling system
> going out at the same time. I have had the thermostat go out, the fan
> clutch was on its way out, the radiator was replaced 1 1/2 years ago, and
> now it looks like the water pump is going?
>
> Does anybody know about how long a water pump should last?
>