Electric water pump on daily

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0xDEADBEEF

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Electric water pumps are not easily installed on the Vortec motor. As they are the LT1.
Are mechanical fans really better ,or are they just cheap? Trucks are by in large exempt from mileage/emission standards. My truck as well as most on this forum are 25+ years old. Consider all the advancements in technology alone over that period. I have found many advantages to many of the mods that I've performed. They aren't for everyone as they require work ,and cost money. Moving both batteries back over seven feet under the back seat improved handling ,and battery life. Doubt the factory considered doing that ,but that doesn't mean their way is better ,just cheaper.

Light duty trucks are not exempt from CAFE, but they don't put electric water pumps on any cars either as far as I know. GM puts a lot of resources into testing in a variety of conditions, and extremes. Cost is certainly a factor, but think how easy it would have been to slap a different water pump on compared to all the start/stop crap everyone hates, cylinder deactivation, aluminum components, hybrids, etc. I think if it worked, they would have done it by now.

I'm not against electric fans or electric water pumps, but they are not universally better.
 

El Tigre

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Odyssey's claim to be sealed.
Believe GM has placed batteries in cabins over the years.
Disliking electric fans doesn't remove their advantages.
I prefer them ,and find them well worth the price
 

RichLo

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I have been leaning towards El Tigre's view on this from a technological standpoint but have been holding off posting. This topic has skewed slightly away from the original question of 'EWP on a daily driven GMT400 w/o any other mods?'... Which I agree with everyone else that there is no benefit for doing it to a stock 30 year old pickup truck that you still rely on for daily commuting. Replace what you have and keep driving it.

BUT:

The other aspect that this has thread has transformed into is... if engineered correctly is an EWP or any other electric-over-hydraulic system worse or less reliable than the old belt-driven hydraulics? Well the simple answer is clearly NO. And El Tigre's reasoning is very valid for why manufacturers are building vehicles the way they are... Cost. It costs a significant amount of money to add an electric motor to something that would otherwise just have a small bearing and a pulley.

Auto racing doesn't care as much about cost than a manufacturer so most innovations come from the racing sector whether that be formula 1 or the guy in his garage hobby racing replacing broken parts with stronger ones.

All I'm getting at is modify your vehicle the way you want it but know what consequences could happen when you stray from stock. It could be just as reliable as factory and with huge gains or you could be running a snake oil product that will fail as soon as you get to the first stop sign. Just do your research and pick the best parts you can afford.
 

0xDEADBEEF

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Found this article this morning. Here's a quote:

Meziere states that electric pumps have performed admirably in the vast majority of street car applications, going on to share that “typically, we will recommend mechanical pumps be used for any towing application, any application where turbo boost exceeds 35 psi, and any naturally aspirated or boosted engines used for continuous wide open throttle and in excess of 600 horsepower. These are the places where block pressure and, more specifically, pressure in the cylinder heads, becomes important to avoid detonation.”

If you aren't doing any of that stuff, it would be an option for you.
 

618 Syndicate

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Found this article this morning. Here's a quote:



If you aren't doing any of that stuff, it would be an option for you.
That article confirms what pretty much all of us (you included) have been saying: that a mechanical pump is best suited for a daily driver, that a mechanical pump outflows an electric pump as rpm rises, that an electric pump can provide cooling when the engine isn't running, and that an electric pump doesn't take horsepower from the engine to run.
Still an interesting read though.
 

PlayingWithTBI

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12v batteries produce explosive gasses when charging.
Odyssey's claim to be sealed.
Believe GM has placed batteries in cabins over the years.
FWIU AGM batteries (like Optima) are sealed too, especially when you can mount them on their side if you have an application which calls for it.
 

thegawd

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Sorry you are correct about AGM batteries.

I just wanted to point out, a possible extremely dangerous situation. not knowing what you know about batteries and not knowing what batteries you put in the cab. this may also stop someone from making that mistake and blowing up their truck.

most people have no clue about how explosive lead acid batteries are when charging.

So it's good to point these possibly unsafe practices out so that no one makes a terrible mistake.

Go ahead and run all the electric components you want. it's your truck and your money.

but if you want to ask questions and then debate them you really should not get so pissed off when a bunch of people dont agree with you.

and it doesn't really matter to me what GM has done on any of their newer vehicles since GM stopped making vehicles as good or as reliable as these old trucks that were the last of them built, "LIKE A ROCK!"

I would rather have a simple, uncomplicated and reliable system than an over engineered rolling computer like any of the new crap.
 
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