how to check water pump ?

[idlizn]

I am putting together some festiva's and it would appear the choke wasn't working on a carby I bought at the wreckers yesturday(non electric). but i pulled off the pipes and poured the kettle down (well not the kettle but the water inside the kettle....) and it worked just nice. So then I pulled a water pipe off the back of the carby to see if water flowed out ,started the car, but alas non did ? does this mean my water pump is shot ? how do i check if the pump is working , it seemed to be flowing slowly when i peeked into the radiator. The car I got the carb. off was blocked up in the water lines with bits of metal and rust , so I'm wondering does this style of carb. just fail or fail slowly in the manner I am describing? Oh , a little water does flow out of said removed water pipe as the engine is shutting down though.

help ? advice ? thoughts ?

(I need another carb. cause I dont know how the other car even worked with a carby this chopped up so I think I'll grab the electric choke one next time) I'll be back to get help how to put that on later.

[NovaSS]

water pumps very rarely fail completely, the impeller would have to come off. Most of the time they are replaced due to a leaking seal.

[idlizn]

maybe I should be checking the thermostat.... could be stuck ?

[kartracer46]

Hook all said pipes back up. Then fill the kettle with water. Run the engine for a bit to bring it up to temp with the cap off. Watch the water level in the kettle, keep it topped off till all the bubbles are gone. Then when the temp is up the thermostat should open allowing the water to flow in the kettle where you can see it moving. If so the pump is good and it may just need a new thermostat. They do get lazy after time. I would replace it with a dual temp thermostat and call it a day.

Hope this helps.