Arctic Accelero Hybrid Repair?

[madboyv1]

Earlier in the WoF I said the following:

I have a Corsair H80i in one computer, and a Prolimatech Samuel 17 in another computer CPU wise... The pump for my Arctic Accelero Hybrid for my GPU just failed last night. RIP

I decided to be more investigative, and opened the pump housing up, this is the horror I found:
And in the puddle of fluid that came out when I turned the pump over:


When I send power to the impeller it does freely spin (it is an induction pump). I'm thinking I can fix this sucker.

Anyone have and tips or suggestions for cleaning the system and then repriming it with fresh coolant?

 

[madboyv1]

Oh god... I tilted the radiator up to get more fluid out...

 

[madboyv1]

After flushing the radiator several times I've put it back together, but within the housing the impeller is seizing up... I assumed a small rubber spacer was necessary to keep the impeller in place, but taking it out keeps it moving.

OF COURSE.... now the pump is loud as sin since it is rattling around. I think I'm going to give up on fixing this thing unless anyone has a suggestion.

 

[madboyv1]

I gave up on the pump, and put the original blower back on the card, mostly because I want to return the card I bought to replace it. Well this was an interesting foray into messing around with a cooling loop. Hopefully I am better equipped in tools and knowledge because of it for whenever I put together a real loop together.

 

[mailpup]

Yes, in this case you are better off replacing the thing instead of fixing it. You checked it out, found a mess and now you're moving on.

 

[madboyv1]

I have a sneaking suspicion that I probably could have widened or deepend the groove in the rubber spacer, or shaved down the mounting pin and got it working for reals, but that's way more work than it's worth. If I trusted the radiator to not still have crud in it, I probably could reuse it and makes a small custom loop, but well, after all the crap I saw come out of it...

 

[mailpup]

And what is that crud anyway? Corrosion? Coolant precipitates? Is this crud found throughout the whole system or just confined to this piece? In any event, I would probably opt for a new, reliable replacement (IMHO).

 

[madboyv1]

And what is that crud anyway? Corrosion? Coolant precipitates? Is this crud found throughout the whole system or just confined to this piece? In any event, I would probably opt for a new, reliable replacement (IMHO).

My gut instinct would say it was coolant precipitates, and it was throughout the system, with buildup on the waterblock, apparently a lot in the radiator, and free debris floating in the coolant. With the amount of debris that I got out of the radiator and original fluid alone I would think if it were corrosion I would have sprung a leak in the radiator. I had practically no hands on experience with the constituent parts a WC loop prior to this weekend so I can't say for certain.

 

[mailpup]

Fair enough. I'm speculating that a clogged system contributed to the pump failure. It certainly didn't do it any good.

 

[madboyv1]

It sure didn't, but on the bright side I got to fool around with the loop so it was a learning experience for me!