Water pump replacement time...

[Guest]

Good news...my water leak was not from a blown head gasket as I had feared...not so good news, the pee-hole in the bottom of the water pump is leaking. I will replace it tonite. Any advice or "gottchya's" to watch-out for?

Thanks

Lee

[albawhore]

Ihave heard that going with an S-14 water pump is wort the $$$. FWIW.

JB

[DavinSF]

...they're easy to cross-thread. Ask me how I know!

[Guest]

Ouch!! Thanks for the heads-up!!

[jerry]

i JUST went through this excercise.

remove radiator, alternator, battery

verify alternator bushings are good.

clean surrounding areas good.

bend locktabs and remove fan. may have to scotchbrite the metal arbor alittle and may need assistance of a puller.

i left the front grills on the car, but probably worth the time to remove those so you can get a straight shot to reassemble the fan bolts.

remove water pump bolts paying attention to the various different lengths and their locations. find a means to identify them for reassembly. takes guess work out, later.

scrape gasket residue of block and clean front timing cover while you're there, too.

clean and oil all the hose clamp screws for good measure.

use new water pump gasket.

torque bolts to 6-8 ft-lbs.

when reinstalling don't forget to reinstall the fan pulley, like i did.

if you did not remove the front grills note the alignment of the holes in the fan. they are not unispaced. i used a small screwdriver to align the holes during placement. i also swabbed the fan with a little glycerine to help slide it on the fan arbor.

hook the fan belt on with the alternator loose and unbolted, then secure alternator.

if you mind these steps you'll eliminate most of the wasted time i went through. it sounds obvious in hindsight but maybe i'm a little more dense.

your car will thank you. i wish i did this months ago.

[Bill_Riblett]

Use anti-sieze compound on the bolt threads. Whoever replaces the waterpump next time will be glad you did!