Strange noise. Main bearing or water pump?

BEANIE

MEMBER
MERCURY

I've got a 1959 Mercury Montclair with 89,000 miles, a 383 engine, automatic transmission.

The car has been overheating. I replaced the thermostat, flushed the radiator (not the block) and mechanic (thought) the water pump was ok. The fan runs all the time.

It still overheated so I thought I would flush it again. While I was flushing it. It started squeaking, mechanic said it could be that the water pump was on the outs and they just didn't catch it.

on the other hand he said it might be a main bearing which would be a lot harder to repair (for me).

Any tips on how to tell what the squeaking is?
and how complex/expensive a main bearing is?

thanks, Kevin

1 Reply

RASMATAZ

MECHANIC
75,992 POSTS

Forget the bearings-remove the radiator cap-fill it to the level-start the car-do you see the coolant in the radiator swirling if yes, squeeze upper hose give it a few secs-let go do you feel a strong flow going thru the hose and a lot of movement of coolant in the radiator. If so the W/pump is doing its job.

The bearings has nothing to do with the overheating unless you're running it without a single drop of oil and if you, it would be worse than squeaking and could throw a rod or locked the engine.