Water pump flow question

How to tell if the water pump is pumping proper amount of flow. I took a heater hose off and had a small amount of flow. I don't know if it is OK. I am trying to get the heat working and don't have a lot of heat right now. I am concerned my water pump is not pumping enough flow. Any help would be appreciated !

 

...after what I just went through, I'd remove the thermostat housing and check it. I was in the middle of replacing my hoses when I discovered the remnants of some bars stop leak that someone had previously used. It plugged the heater feeder port completely in the thermo housing. I also hooked the water hose up to both heater hoses and flushed them with pretty high pressure, to the point I was getting a humming noise flowing through the coils.

Just a couple suggestions before you replace your pump. Although after what I got into, I'm replacing my water pump and having my radiator pressure checked this weekend.

 

X2 on what Dave said. Replace the thermostat and flush everything completely to start with. Hold your finger over one end to make sure you build up some good pressure in the heater core, then release it. Do that several times, as well as making sure the radiator is flushed good. All of that is cheap to do starting out, before you have to spend the $ to replace the water pump.

Dave, I know what you mean about the stop leak crap. That stuff will completely ruin your entire system. I replaced everything on one after someone put stop leak in it, only to find out the problem was the radiator. It all seemed to flow pretty good just by looking at it, but when I took it to have it checked they said it was 95% blocked. :evil:

 

I guess I'd be suspicious on why stop leak was there in the first place. Those were some scary pictures of those hoses. half expected something live to squeeze through!

If you got a bucket of known size and a stopwatch you could time how long it took to fill the bucket and calculate the flow. This is only helpful if you know how much the flow is supposed to be, but that info might be available in a catalog selling the pumps new. I've got the stock pump off the 304 on a shelf free to a good home if you aren't planning on buying a Hesco or such.