Dr.Jass
Pastor of Muppets
Almost 3 years ago, a customer and friend needed a water pump for the Isuzu diesel engine in his cattle feeder. The machine is a converted school bus, and is enormously important to the operation of the family farm. I was not originally involved in the search for the pump but was told, "No one can determine what this thing is, and there aren't any numbers on the pump and not much on the engine." So, the pump was removed and sent in for a reman as you can't find something you can't even identify. It took 6 or 7 weeks for the pump to return, but once it came back it was installed and all was well--for about 6 months.
The pump started leaking again. They were able to find a used pump (off another bus in a backyard junkyard, totally by eye) to keep the machine operating while the reman unit was sent in for warranty repair, which it was. The way our system works, I have to send it to our heavy-truck division and they send it back to the rebuilder. It takes a little extra time, but the tracking system works well. The rebuilder remembered the pump, only because they didn't even know what the hell it was... "Yeah, we'll warranty it, no problem." Everyone in the chain of evidence also knew this was a rush order because of how critical the machine is to the farm.
After about 10 days, I called for a status check on the pump. My heavy-truck guy assured me he'd call back with an answer soon, which he did. I wasn't too thrilled with the answer, though. Precision Rebuilders had lost the fuckin' pump!! :doh: Yes, they signed for it UPS, they knew all about it, but they couldn't locate the actual part! After a day or two of searching, they still could not find it, so their solution was "Tell the customer to find another pump, and if it's used we'll pay for the core part and reman it at no charge." Keep in mind, no one knows what this thing is except that it's an Isuzu inline-6 non-turbo diesel. Well, Carl the Customer said there was another bus in the backyard junkyard, so he'd go get that one. I told him to have the guy make out some kind of receipt, or at least have a cancelled check to cover the cost. When he went back to get it, the only thing that had been robbed off the engine in the meantime was--you guessed it--the water pump.
I would discover soon enough that for the most part, this engine isn't even technically a vehicle engine though Isuzu did use it in some trucks... 30 years ago. It's more of an industrial application. Great.
Carl stops in on Monday. The pump is now literally spewing coolant... we have to solve this, like now. I told him to get me every identifying mark he could off the engine and I'd go from there. This is my first opportunity to actually search for the part and the origins of the engine, so I'm anxious to see what information he gives me. Tuesday morning I get the call, and believe me, the information is scant at best. One number stamped into the engine block, and not a single casting number anywhere, on any part. Holy shit, Isuzu... way to be cryptic. The only other numbers on the engine were stamped on the injection pump (made by Diesel Kiki, which I found humorous because I pictured a South Pacific woman built like Brian Urlacher). Still, it took me less than 5 minutes to figure out what the engine was, an Isuzu 6BD1 5.8L inline six. The vast majority of the 6BD1 engines in the US are the 6BD1T, which (surprise!) is a turbocharged truck engine and uses a different pump, I'm guessing because of the pulley flange. I have to get the oddball.
I spent 6 hours on Tuesday looking for a water pump for the damned thing. It only took something like 20 phone calls, over solid two hours on the internet, and involved 8 people not including myself. My research taught me that there are approximately 6 million Isuzu 6BD1 engines worldwide, and that apparently 5,999,997 of them are outside the US of A. Of the other three, one's in Carl's cattle feeder, and the other two are in Ken Pollack's junkyard.
Go ahead and try to find it yourself... you'll find a pump (usually something like 113610 or the superseded 1-13610 number) but those are the either early, extremely failure-prone design that Isuzu no longer services, or the one for the 6BD1T truck engine which won't work. The vast majority of either of them seem only available in China, New Zealand, Australia and Macedonia of all places. I ended up finding at least six numbers, it may have been seven. Hell, I found a GM number for it, but neither the local GM dealer nor the GM medium/heavy-truck dealer to whom I spoke could tell me anything about it, including the GM application.
Yes, I'm that much of a bloodhound when it comes to finding parts.
I finally found the revised-design, correct pump... and I had to go to an Isuzu Industrial dealer to do it. I wonder how Precision Rebuilders is going to feel about the $400+shipping they're going to have to pay to correct their mistake with a brand-new Isuzu part. Something tells me the lost pump will miraculously reappear to avoid paying the ticket. All I know is this: my store is not eating this, and Carl will have a brand-new, improved-design pump on the cattle feeder at no cost to him. If he wants the current leaker rebuilt as a backup, though, I'd just as soon he brought it somewhere else. I'd just as soon be done with this deal, and I will tell him that when he picks up the new one.
If I had the correct number stored to memory, I'd post it as a dare to try and find. It does not exist on the internet, even though it's both an Isuzu and John Deere number. Several different search engines and websites provided nothing.
For the record, Precision Rebuilders is a mess. I spoke to the guy that rebuilt the pump originally, and while he remembered it he did not know what had been done to it. He kept no record of which bearings or seal he used, etc. He's an offsite subcontractor to Precision, and the warranty pump got lost somewhere between their receiving department and him. So, if you've got an oddball pump and your parts dealer tells you it needs to be R&Red make sure you find out where it's going. If it's going to Precision, I'd suggest you save yourself time, aggravation, and ultimately money by just going ahead and buying a new one from the OEM dealer... because chances are, they're not going to jump through the same hoops I did. If a warranty issue arises, well, at least you'll get another brand-new one and not have to wait for another R&R assuming they can keep track of it. We no longer use Precision Rebuilders. This one pump is probably 50% of the reason if not more.
I'm still the Original Partstitute.
The pump started leaking again. They were able to find a used pump (off another bus in a backyard junkyard, totally by eye) to keep the machine operating while the reman unit was sent in for warranty repair, which it was. The way our system works, I have to send it to our heavy-truck division and they send it back to the rebuilder. It takes a little extra time, but the tracking system works well. The rebuilder remembered the pump, only because they didn't even know what the hell it was... "Yeah, we'll warranty it, no problem." Everyone in the chain of evidence also knew this was a rush order because of how critical the machine is to the farm.
After about 10 days, I called for a status check on the pump. My heavy-truck guy assured me he'd call back with an answer soon, which he did. I wasn't too thrilled with the answer, though. Precision Rebuilders had lost the fuckin' pump!! :doh: Yes, they signed for it UPS, they knew all about it, but they couldn't locate the actual part! After a day or two of searching, they still could not find it, so their solution was "Tell the customer to find another pump, and if it's used we'll pay for the core part and reman it at no charge." Keep in mind, no one knows what this thing is except that it's an Isuzu inline-6 non-turbo diesel. Well, Carl the Customer said there was another bus in the backyard junkyard, so he'd go get that one. I told him to have the guy make out some kind of receipt, or at least have a cancelled check to cover the cost. When he went back to get it, the only thing that had been robbed off the engine in the meantime was--you guessed it--the water pump.
I would discover soon enough that for the most part, this engine isn't even technically a vehicle engine though Isuzu did use it in some trucks... 30 years ago. It's more of an industrial application. Great.
Carl stops in on Monday. The pump is now literally spewing coolant... we have to solve this, like now. I told him to get me every identifying mark he could off the engine and I'd go from there. This is my first opportunity to actually search for the part and the origins of the engine, so I'm anxious to see what information he gives me. Tuesday morning I get the call, and believe me, the information is scant at best. One number stamped into the engine block, and not a single casting number anywhere, on any part. Holy shit, Isuzu... way to be cryptic. The only other numbers on the engine were stamped on the injection pump (made by Diesel Kiki, which I found humorous because I pictured a South Pacific woman built like Brian Urlacher). Still, it took me less than 5 minutes to figure out what the engine was, an Isuzu 6BD1 5.8L inline six. The vast majority of the 6BD1 engines in the US are the 6BD1T, which (surprise!) is a turbocharged truck engine and uses a different pump, I'm guessing because of the pulley flange. I have to get the oddball.
I spent 6 hours on Tuesday looking for a water pump for the damned thing. It only took something like 20 phone calls, over solid two hours on the internet, and involved 8 people not including myself. My research taught me that there are approximately 6 million Isuzu 6BD1 engines worldwide, and that apparently 5,999,997 of them are outside the US of A. Of the other three, one's in Carl's cattle feeder, and the other two are in Ken Pollack's junkyard.
Go ahead and try to find it yourself... you'll find a pump (usually something like 113610 or the superseded 1-13610 number) but those are the either early, extremely failure-prone design that Isuzu no longer services, or the one for the 6BD1T truck engine which won't work. The vast majority of either of them seem only available in China, New Zealand, Australia and Macedonia of all places. I ended up finding at least six numbers, it may have been seven. Hell, I found a GM number for it, but neither the local GM dealer nor the GM medium/heavy-truck dealer to whom I spoke could tell me anything about it, including the GM application.
Yes, I'm that much of a bloodhound when it comes to finding parts.
I finally found the revised-design, correct pump... and I had to go to an Isuzu Industrial dealer to do it. I wonder how Precision Rebuilders is going to feel about the $400+shipping they're going to have to pay to correct their mistake with a brand-new Isuzu part. Something tells me the lost pump will miraculously reappear to avoid paying the ticket. All I know is this: my store is not eating this, and Carl will have a brand-new, improved-design pump on the cattle feeder at no cost to him. If he wants the current leaker rebuilt as a backup, though, I'd just as soon he brought it somewhere else. I'd just as soon be done with this deal, and I will tell him that when he picks up the new one.
If I had the correct number stored to memory, I'd post it as a dare to try and find. It does not exist on the internet, even though it's both an Isuzu and John Deere number. Several different search engines and websites provided nothing.
For the record, Precision Rebuilders is a mess. I spoke to the guy that rebuilt the pump originally, and while he remembered it he did not know what had been done to it. He kept no record of which bearings or seal he used, etc. He's an offsite subcontractor to Precision, and the warranty pump got lost somewhere between their receiving department and him. So, if you've got an oddball pump and your parts dealer tells you it needs to be R&Red make sure you find out where it's going. If it's going to Precision, I'd suggest you save yourself time, aggravation, and ultimately money by just going ahead and buying a new one from the OEM dealer... because chances are, they're not going to jump through the same hoops I did. If a warranty issue arises, well, at least you'll get another brand-new one and not have to wait for another R&R assuming they can keep track of it. We no longer use Precision Rebuilders. This one pump is probably 50% of the reason if not more.
I'm still the Original Partstitute.
