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Water Pump :(

hugoscsvt88

CEG'er
Joined
Oct 15, 2006
Messages
78
Location
Glendale,Arizona
So today I was pulling into the parking lot here at my apartment and I noticed my oil gauge flickering and my check engine light turn on. Well thats when I look at my temp gauge and my temp was at 260 !!! well after I cooled the car down I looked around and i saw the belt had snapped on the water pump people were telling me to try turning the pump to see if it has locked up but I already know the answer my car has 125k so its WATER PUMP TIME anybody have any tips or advice on replacing it. :shrug:
 
whats up man, i replaced my water pump when i bought my car, its pretty easy the only hard thing is getting the old gasket material off. Purchase the metal impellar from ctamotorsports.com or someone and ill be glad to help you out, i think we live pretty close by. let me now and ill pm you my number.
 
I'd recommend not just replacing the pump, but getting the entire assembly from Ford. I replaced the pump, only to need to replace the housing about 6 months later. Also, the pump assembly price is less than just an aftermarket pump. The kit comes with the housing and pump (pre-assembled), and it comes with the 2 large hoses. This is the revised one that doesn't fail like the early models... where the impellers crumble. Just to clarify, there's a reducer cone in the housing that can dislodge from the housing and cause problems. Also, this is good preventive maintenance -- replacing those hoses. Since I didn't have to mess around with removing the rock hard gasket material... I think I spent less time replacing the entire assembly... even though that meant I had to remove the UIM/LIM to get to one of the hoses.
 
Thanks for the advice man do you know how long I should expect for this to take without running into anything major ?



I'd recommend not just replacing the pump, but getting the entire assembly from Ford. I replaced the pump, only to need to replace the housing about 6 months later. Also, the pump assembly price is less than just an aftermarket pump. The kit comes with the housing and pump (pre-assembled), and it comes with the 2 large hoses. This is the revised one that doesn't fail like the early models... where the impellers crumble. Just to clarify, there's a reducer cone in the housing that can dislodge from the housing and cause problems. Also, this is good preventive maintenance -- replacing those hoses. Since I didn't have to mess around with removing the rock hard gasket material... I think I spent less time replacing the entire assembly... even though that meant I had to remove the UIM/LIM to get to one of the hoses.
 
Just FYI, Napa sells the entire water pump assembly with the metal impeller, and keep it in stock. Don't remember the exact name, but just have the guy at the counter open the box and look. It was in a darker colored box IIRC.
 
Thanks for the advice man do you know how long I should expect for this to take without running into anything major ?
Well.... that depends. Just pulling everything apart to replace the pump, you're looking at around 2 hours. Though... if you've never done a UIM/LIM rebuild, then you should do that at the same time. It only adds about 1 hour.

If you're going to do the rebuild, you'll need:

Gaskets:
  • EGR -> UIM gasket
  • IAC -> UIM gasket
  • Throttlebody -> UIM gasket
  • UIM -> LIM gaskets (2)
  • LIM -> head gaskets (2)
  • Injector o-rings (12 total, or 6 upper & 6 lower... depending on your year)
Other:
  • Roll of shop towels
  • 2 cans of Berrymans carb cleaner
Also.... if you haven't flushed your coolant system, you should also do that too, since you're going to loose alot of coolant when changing the pump. This adds about 1 hour as well..... if doing it, you'll need...:
  • 1 gallon antifreeze
  • 2.5 gallons distilled water (less is needed.. this is just to be safe)
  • 1 bottle of Waterwetter (optional)
  • new thermostat
  • thermostat housing o-ring
  • garden hose
 
Thanks for the heads up man I took apart the assembly and the water pump appeared fine the only thing i can thing of is the belt just got old and dry and broke but besides that I notices my water temp at 225 seems a little high I went ahead and replaced the thermostat today to, do you think the radiator flush would help at all ?


Well.... that depends. Just pulling everything apart to replace the pump, you're looking at around 2 hours. Though... if you've never done a UIM/LIM rebuild, then you should do that at the same time. It only adds about 1 hour.

If you're going to do the rebuild, you'll need:

Gaskets:
  • EGR -> UIM gasket
  • IAC -> UIM gasket
  • Throttlebody -> UIM gasket
  • UIM -> LIM gaskets (2)
  • LIM -> head gaskets (2)
  • Injector o-rings (12 total, or 6 upper & 6 lower... depending on your year)
Other:

  • Roll of shop towels
  • 2 cans of Berrymans carb cleaner
Also.... if you haven't flushed your coolant system, you should also do that too, since you're going to loose alot of coolant when changing the pump. This adds about 1 hour as well..... if doing it, you'll need...:
  • 1 gallon antifreeze
  • 2.5 gallons distilled water (less is needed.. this is just to be safe)
  • 1 bottle of Waterwetter (optional)
  • new thermostat
  • thermostat housing o-ring
  • garden hose
 
Make sure the little belt tensioner is working and if the pump impeller is black plastic, change it out. My black plastic impeller broke in 3 pieces. Also, the shaft can slip inside the impeller, or it got stuck, make sure the pump turns free in the housing. And check the radiator fan motors are not stiff.
 
If you've never flushed it before, then it would be a good idea to do it. Probably using the flushing chemicals would be good too.... you really never know if the previous owner put tap water in it. As FavoriteMystaque said, make sure the waterpump pulley rotates smoothly, and check the idler pulley. My idler was worn and was rattling.... which I replaced at the same time I replaced my pump assembly. When you flush it.. just make sure you don't use more than 40% antifreeze, and use about 7/8ths of a bottle of Waterwetter. I'm only running 15% antifreeze... but I'll never take my car into the snowy areas.
 
Mix is usually 50/50:shrug: Unless water wetter or hot climate affects this? I'm from the frozen North (it is 42 out, was 80 yesterday)
 
Waterwetter is an anti-corrosive and lubricant... so using anti-freeze for those reasons isn't really needed. It *rarely* ever freezes here... but if it does, it doesn't get cold enough to freeze more than a paper thin body of water -- ~30*F. Since anti-freeze reduces the cooling efficiency of water, I was recommending against it if the car never sees snow. Now, Redline does recommend at least 10% anti-freeze in a street car that has a heater core. They say it's possible for the water to freeze in it with the a/c on.
 
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