Pump lubricant

[andrew34ruby]

Hi Tiger,

The hole is to allow the escape of coolant leaking past the internal seals, usually a sign that the pump bearings are on the way out.

Russell.

I remember my 1984 Austin Maestro, and finding a drop of water from that hole I fitted a new pump. It also had a drop of water hanging on to the hole. The car never seemed to need the water topping up. Nowadays many would call it 'coolant'.

We seem to have drifted away from Austin sevens, but at least I've brought us back to Austins.

[AustinWood]

The handook for the D series Citroens says to use cutting oil to lubricate the water pump.
However the D Citroens were not engineered like other cars. The hoses were made of some very tough and oil resistant rubber. The main agent in Cambridgeshire, who had been agents since 1948, did not stock and never had stocked hoses.
I never had to replace one in many thousands of miles.
They also didn't stock valves. The only time I had to replace valves was when I over-revved my DS21 efi. It was high mileage and the timing chain was worn. The tensioner failed and the valves were bent. The agents didn't scrap write-offs and used them for spares. I just had to go round the back and remove valves from one of the wrecks stored there.
Times have changed.