I REPLACED MY WATER PUMP ON MY 1988 CHEROKEE,THE NEW PUMP STARTED MAKING THE SAME BEARING NOISE.
A 1998 Jeep Cherokee became overheating. i stumbled on that the impeller on the water pump became worn away by using contaminates in the antifreeze. to envision for coolant flow deploy a antifreeze flush adapter in between the heater hoses.Its only am adapter to in fantastic condition a backyard hose to the coolant equipment to flush it. With the automobile operating loosen the adapter fill cap. Coolant ought to come out with significant rigidity. If it only weeps out or dribbles out the pump is incorrect.
if it is not anything else making the noise then perhaps you have a defective pump....if that jeep has a 4.0 with a manual tensioner then it is very easy to overtighten the belt and cause pre mature failure of the front bearing in the water pump
I'd wager that whoever installed the new water pump over-tightened the belt. The belt has a tension spec that must be adhered to. Some ham-fisted joke of a mechanic most likely just leaned on the tension pulley with a crowbar and tightened it. Take it to a qualified mechanic and have them measure the belt tension with a gage. Then take that info to the clown that did the work and get your money back -- don't let him ruin another pump; get a qualified mechanic to do the job properly.
this probably a dumb question but have you changed the bearing in the idler pulley? i have a 89 jeep that squeaks or squeals, bearing noise, just one bolt takes it off. i pulled mine off and greased the bearing, and put it back in, that took care of the noise. that was 6 months ago and it is starting again so i priced a new bearing, $6, you might need the number off the bearing to order it. make sure u just get the bearing, the whole idler pulley is like $40. I'm only suggesting this cause in my experience water pumps don't squeal, they kinda make a scraping noise then shortly later stop all together. if the pump wasn't leaking it might not have been broke. some times it is the simplest things
my jeep with the 4.0 ate 3 water pumps,The belt can also mimic the noise of a bad pump,spray some brake cleen on the belt as it turns and if the noise goes away its the belt. ase tech
