The water pump is sealed against the crank case oil, these will not come in contact with each other. The only way the 2 would mix is if you took the head off or the front cover or if the housing corroded really bad and ate through but thats VERY doubtfull.Ok, I got it back together, fired it up and ran it to check for leaks....so far so good. I have a few questions....are these normally hard to get the air out of the cooling system? Should I run it for a bit with the rad cap off? Also, when I pulled the water pump off, did I expose the crankcase to coolant? I just want to make sure no coolant got in the oil when i pulled the pump and a gush of water came out. I will wait for your responses before I put it to work. Thanks again!!!!!
It wouldn't hurt running the machine with the cap off till it got to operating temperature, just so you get some coolant moving around to get the main air locks out. After that it will self purge over time if you have a recovery cap fitted to the radiator.
I hope its all ok now!