So I thought it was a busted coolant hose ... white steam coming out of the engine bay ... it so happens that my water pump passed away ... may it RIP.

So had that replaced ...

And looking at the old water pump ... the blades flaked off ... which begs the question ... its probably in there somewhere .. and how do I get those pieces out ...

 

Good catch! Of course this pump lost a little bit of his efficiency ;-) Mine was getting there also but plastic impeller is not exactly the best choice of materiel....

 

Anybody has any tips as to how to get the broken off impeller out of the cooling system?

 

Most of the bits of the impeller should have came out when you had the pump replaced. If you are still worried about it, you could always have it flushed to make sure any little pieces left in there came out.

 

Like i said in the PM... These pumps can move quite a bit of fluid when they are just starting to go. Much of the debris gets caught in the first rad in the system. I can not remember which one it is L or R????

Either way I would flush out the system with a good High volume flow before you re-install the engine and flush the engine too before you put the back side of the motor back on. The small and real large impeller bits can cause some issues but is it not common.

Let us know how it all works out for you.

PS: Have all the coolant fitting welded up while you are in there too. Thats a very good necessary preventative thing to do right now.

 

What is your mileage? I replaced mine at 56k as a preventative item. Mine still looked good, but it could have been replaced by the PO.

 

Also, I suspect that you had one fin fail on you and then it took out a few other fins. Could be a recurring problem with the stuff in your coolant now...