© Copyright 2000 Frank Zemaitis/STE, ltd. All Rights Reserved
My water pump recently developed a sound not unlike a freight train. The bearings were totally destroyed. I am convinced the 3 defective Haynes fan clutches I went through last Summer did it in. 3 new clutches and none of them lasted more than a month. A dramatization of how an unbalanced fan clutch will quickly shorten the life of a water pump. The water pump is not hard to change but there are many layers of part that have to be removed to get to it. The items in the beneath image are all you need to remove in the order indicated to replace the water pump.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a good time to replace your timing belt, front cam and crank seals. Leaking oil can shorten the life of your belt and a broken belt will almost certainly damage your engine. Since I will be doing a total rebuild on this engine in the near future I skipped this step and therefore have no details.
Remove the fan and clutch. Back off the adjusters for the AC compressor belt idler pulley, power steering pump, alternator and remove the belts. Remove the AC compressor idler pulley support member (that was a mouth full). Drain the radiator and place a large pan under the engine to catch coolant. Loosen the engine side of the upper and lower radiator hoses, let them drain and pull them out of the way or remove them all together. Remove the crank shaft pulley. You will have to use some kind of puller to get the pulley off. I bought two 6mm by 60mm length bolts and used my steering wheel puller with great success.
The bolt takes a 22mm socket but a 7/8 inch also works well. The bolt is a standard right hand thread so it unscrews counter-clockwise. Remove the upper and lower timing belt covers.
This is also a good time to replace your thermostat even if it seems to be working. Also, if you have has trouble with overheating in hot weather you may consider a lower temperature thermostat. Stock is 180°F. I installed a 170°F thermostat which helped noticeably. Remove the water pump and thermostat housing. Keep track of which bolts came from where. There are several lengths. Scrape ALL of the old gasket material off of the engine face and both faces of the thermostat housing. These surfaces must be clean and flat. Install the new water pump with a new gasket using the recommended torque specification. DO NOT use any sealer on the gasket. This is not necessary as the gasket will provide all the sealing needed. Install the new thermostat, new gasket, housing and torque to the recommended specification. Reassemble everything in reverse order of the disassembly, set you belt tensions and top off with coolant. Start engine and run warm, check if your coolingfan works by 90 degrees. Let the heater blow warm air in to the interior so all the hoses are filled. Than put the engine off , let it cool down and than check the level coolant in the reservoir.