I am having a slight problem with my '91 240. It seems that the water pump pulley is rubbing agains the timing belt cover. I checked the alignment of the water pump pulley to the crankshaft pulley and the water pump pulley seems to be inset about 1/32". A shim would bring it back into alignment but I haven't seen anything in any of the automotive sites. Does anyone know if you can purchase shims that will offset the water pump pulley?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

The water pump might be bad causing the pulley to hit the cover.
Bearing goes bad and then the pulley go sideways some and hits the cover.

 

The water pump is in pretty good shape. It looks like it just has been replaced recently - the pump looks new and the bearings tight. Also the coolant is fresh.

 

Then maybe the timing cover mounts are broke?

 

I've tried two different timing belt covers and they both scrape - while one not as bad as the other.

I took a straight edge on the water pump pulley and using a ruler, checked the alignment of the water pump pulley to the crank pulley and found that they are offset about 1/32". It seems that this offset could be the cause of the scraping as well.

 

Then I would have to say maybe the water pump pulley is not the correct one for the car.