Atomis 4 Water Pump Greaser fitting

[Sundayflyer32]

FYI all you A4 lovers, I was going to screw in the grease cap to lubricate the water pump when I thought I better check to see if there was grease in the cap.
When I unscrewed the cap, the whole fitting came out of the pump. No problem, however upon closer instection I discovered that when the cap was screwed in to push grease into the pump, no grease was coming out the "nipple" end.
It took several hours of soaking in varsol and careful cleaning with a stiff piece of wire to free up the small spring and ball check valve inside the fitting.
It was plugged solid with old grease so any time I tried to lubricate the pump none was going in. After freeing up the ball check valve there is lots of grease coming out of the "nipple" end so I know I am getting grease where it is required.

It would be worth checking as part of your annual maintenance.

[travlineasy]

Good tip - I've never checked to see if the nipple end was open.

Thanks,

Gary

[CalebD]

Moyer Marine now makes a water pump that requires no grease cap fitting (MMI 501 & 502 pumps) and replaces the old Oberdorfers. They put bearings in there that don't need a grease cap. Never really liked that grease cap fitting; you never knew if there was enough grease inside the shaft.
Costs a coupla hundred bucks but you'll never worry about it again.

[dive7mmwet]

thanks great tip mine was just like yours a bit clogged! that old pump works fine for me!

[deniseO30]

same pump is used on many diesels too.