I know this sounds weird, but I just got done redoing the top end of my 3.0 1999 rangers engine and when I was doing this I took the water pump off and ( don't lol), sand blasted the pump to clean it and then painted it. After that I noticed that the pump was grinding a bit so I cleaned it and it was smooth again put it back on and finished with the rebuild and then started it and it ran great. The next day drove it to work and no problems. On the way home it started to loose power and then the engine seemed to seize up. Let it cool 1/2 hour and it started and I drove about 3 blocks in traffic and it started blogging down and seemed to seize again. Called AAA and had it towed home this morning went out and turn it over and it runs great again.

So could the water pump bearing be heating up and seizing and stoping the engine?

 

Any ideas?

 

might try replacing that water pump..

 

Yea I am going to check out tge pump and replace it if that's it, this weekend. I am busy working this week, so I wanted to here if any one had heard of this accruing before.

 

No your belt would slip before your engine died. Do you hear any chirping slipping sounds? Is the pump hard to turn at all?

 

if it was the pump itself seizing up it would start to overheat quite quickly, Is your temp guage working? if it gets hot it will act just as you are stating, It may be that you damaged the impeller to where it is not pumping the volume it needs to cool properly. replace the pump and see if it still has a problem.

 

Yea it didn't over heat, at least what the gauge said.