bingo. its a waste of time, imo.
about the only REAL way of telling the pump is running is to install some sort of flow sensor. this actually reads whether or not the coolant is actually circulating.

 

or http://impalassforum.com/cgi-bin/ult...8;t=000106;p=4
the guy is a member here. Basically alarms you when your car reaches a certain temp with a buzzer and a red light. It's genious! I'll be definitley contacting this guy for one.

 

tell me how the contact goes with him

 

I've got his setup and it works as advertised I've had it for over a yr now. Best money I've spent.

 

I've had one CSI pump fail out of the blue after 2 years. Ordered another one and have had no problems with it. The car used to be a daily driver, but it's been relegated to weekend duties now.

 

Not always.... Mechanical pumps can seize up and not work at all. Although i'm sure it's rare, it can happen. Had a pump on my old GMC seize up while i was driving. The shaft then snapped and there wen't my fan through the radiator. That was an interesting night....

Ken R.

 

don't get a csr/csi, thay have a poor design which causes the force of the water to spin the impeller off of the motor shaft and wedge against the housing. A simple change in thread direction would have been due, great engineering there anyway this happened to me and i just said screw it and bought a meziere.

 

Now that is scary! I've got a CSR (knock on wood)

 

And how many times has your pump lost its connection and overheated your car? Your old pump really did sound pretty bad too but it kept on going. You should put it back in and see how many more miles you can get out of it.

 

I second the alarm from the impalass forum.. it is a really nice peice of security to have. No problems from the meziere here either.

 

Just run what you feel comfortable with. If you are one of those guys who get freaked out over little things that may happen, then stay stock. If you can handle the thought that the pump may fail without you knowing until the temp starts to rise then go electric.

Before I start my car I just turn the ignition on and listen for the hum of the pump. If for some reason I don't hear it I will actually open the hood and listen for it. I'm also constantly looking at my temp.

I look at it like this, it's a performance car and every little thing I do to it will and can make it just that much more unreliable. If I wanted full on reliable I would have left it stock. What fun is that? I'm on my 2nd Z28 and they have both had a CSI with no problems.

 

For those guys that think the mechanical pump is more reliable. I'm the original owner and have 140000 miles on it. I have had 2 mechanical pumps fail at 60,000 miles and 120,000. It not a problem as long as you watch your temperature guage. I will never go back to a mechanical pump. Meziere takes only 10 minutes to change if it fails. However I have not had to change it.

 

If your mech fails and the temps go up its because its been leaking for a while now and enough coolant has leaked out to make the coolant level low enough to overheat

 

Yes that is another advantage of the electric pump... if a guy could... all he needs is a spare pump, extra jug of coolant and wrench to change the pump out even on teh side of the road.

 

Have you done this before? I'm wondering how easy it'd be because mine is really close to the fan- looks like I might have to remove the fan even to just swap the motor out.