Water Pump

[69Boss302]

This is fairly easy to do and is alot cheaper than letting the dealership do it.

What you need:

Catch pan for the Anti-freeze

8mm socket and ratchet

New metal impeller water pump. What you most likely be getting is just the impeller. It is the only moving part in the water pump. Except the water, of course.

New water pump gasket

(not needed but wouldn't hurt) - new water pump belt. I prefer Dayco belts.



Ok, start by removing this



from here



Circled is the water pump and pulley. There is a tensioner pulley that holds the belt tight. It is spring loaded and easily moveable. Move the pulley so that the belt slackens and remove the belt.

Here is a better view of what you are working on.

Ok, now remove all of the 8mm bolts. Please note the 3 bolt holes that are empty in the pic. When these are removed, the entire pump housing will be loose from the engine. Do not worry about that but note that this is the location of the 3 longest bolts. As you remove the bolts, the housing will begin to leak. use some paper towels to keep your work area dry.



Now that all of the bolts have been removed, it is most likely that the impeller portion will stick to the engine. Give it some light taps with a plastic handled screwdriver to the side of the pump. It should pop right off in your hand.







If you are replacing the water pump because the impeller shattered, it is extremely important that all of the impeller pieces are removed from the system. Failure to do so can cause you more headaches in the future. Such as engine failure from insufficient cooling.

Check the mating surface of the engine block where the water pump goes. It needs to free any old gasket material or other contaminants.

Now that everything has been cleaned, it is time to reassemble.

Align the new gasket properly over the bolt holes on the water pump and put it all back on the engine. I find that it is helpful to have a small dab of RTV silicone to hold the gasket in place while doing this.

Install all of the bolts in the proper positions and tighten accordingly. According to the Service manual, the bolts should be tightened to 18Nm (13 ft lbs).

Install the Water pump belt.

Refill your cooling system to the full level to replace any fuids lost during this process.

Check for any leaks.

And that should be about it. If I have forgotten something, please let me know.

If you have questions, post here.

[posthuman63t]

nice write up, and as you said, one of the easiest swaps to do. And since it could possibly save your engine, why not do it?

[Ray]

Added to Duratec How-to FAQ and Duratec Maintenance FAQ
Thanks!

[todras]

Odd looking impellar. Never seen one like that.

[starjammir]

I was thinking the same thing Todd, mine looks backwards compared to that one.

[69Boss302]

That engine is an 04 Taurus 3L.

The aftermarket lists the same part # for that motor as well as the 2.5s in our cars.

[todras]

Must have been changed on the later 3L's. Yes, they are compatable between both naturally.

[soph17]

Thanks for the How-To...this thing really saved me a bunch of $$

I printed off this thread and just did it myself...and I've never done anything to a car before, just had my dad help out, who has only done a few minor things to an old Taurus he had...

When I was changing it, the only things I removed was the battery, (moved over the air filter case to take the battery out) and the hose that has the thermostat in it, after that the bolts on the pump were rather easy to get to..

The water pump belt is really easy as well, the front part just springs upward and you can slide it right off...

Taking the pump off was a bit of a struggle since it didn't pop off that easy but I just worked with it and got it off...Sure enough the broken plastic water pump propeller parts came falling out to the ground...

We got a new pump, put some gasket sealer on it, popped it right on and just finished everything up...Total time of the repair with 2 guys who know nothing about cars was probably about an hour or so...and this was something that a dealership quoted me $650 to fix!!!

I just want to thank you again for the guide here, very well written, very good directions, and the pictures helped out a lot as well, and it really saved me a lot!

and those checking out the guide that think it's too easy by the way it's written...it really, really is this easy...

[Ray]

Just make sure you pieced those impellar parts together to make sure that they are ALL OUT, lest one get stuck/wedged in your new impellar and cause you to overheat, again.

[fred22]

and also worth replacing with the metal water pump, the plastic ones breaking dont sound good for the headgaskets on these cars