Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Water pump removal - Zetec

After getting a $20 diagnostic from our local dealer that our water pump needed to be replaced (1998 Contour GL, 4 cylinder) we decided to try it ourselves.

After fighting with the pulley wheel over the water pump we managed to loosen the water pump with relative ease. However we can't remove it becase all the other pulley wheels are blocking access.

I was thinking of removing crankshaft pulley to get the water pump out. Is there an easier way to make room for the water pump? This is really frustrating.

If we remove the crankshaft pulley, what should we watch out for. The haynes manual we have says to remove the starter amd wedge a screw driver in the fly wheel. Also they mention rotating the crankshaft until the timing marks align. What exactly on the marks. There are 2 notches, that look like damage, but are they it.

Edit: Subject.

Thanks,
Tara

first of all, do you own a haynes manual?

If so, refer to 3-8, para. 13.

If not.. I'll paraphrase:

Things to remove in this order:

• Negative battery cable.
  
• Drain cooling system
  
• rasie front of car.
  
• Remove FR wheel
  
• remove splash guard
  
• Remove coolant recovery tank
  
• support engine
  
• remove nuts and bolts from right hand engine support bracket.
  
• loosen WP pulley bolts, remove accessory belt.
  
• remove wp pulley
  
• remove WP mounting bolts, and seperate pump from engine.
  
• rotate pump 180º to provide clearing to remove from engine.
• 
  
• clean mating surfaces
  
• install new pump with new gasket.
  
• reverse removal procedure..
  

hth
Ray

Thanks for responding. Yes, we have the Haynes manual.

The book does not seem accurate. For instance, removing the expansion tank and engine support bracket does not provide the clearance to extract the water pump.

The water pump is disconnected and won't clear the fender wall when trying to remove it from above. Going from below the crankshaft pulley is in the way. It seems the next step is to remove the crankshaft pulley.

I think the next step will be to find a way to lock the flywheel so the crankshaft is immobilized when try to unbolt it.

We are concerned about the timing belt and the proper alignment of the crankshaft. This seems to be turning into a lot more of project than we anticipated.

I, personally, have no experience with the Zetec engine, but as a side note:


My wife owns a 96 neon, 4cyl, and the WP is driven by the timing belt, on the lower front of the engine, on the passenger side.

I had to follow those exact instructions to remove hers... I had to remove the top right mount bracket, and I had to get a damper pulley remover, take off the timing belt and then remove the waterpump...

Make sure to mark the timing location on the crankshaft in at least two locations, and then reinstall according to that.


To lock the pulley in place, we used an iron bar shoved through an eye in the pulley itself, and it wedged in to the engine. A little elbow grease from me, while dad loosened the pulley nut, and it was good to go..


Afterwards, I decided that is the WP ever goes out again, I will be "totalling" the car out... screw THAT $H|#...


Ray

Tara, you will have to remove the timing belt to change the water pump. That is a disadvantage of driving the pump with the timing belt.

If your still game,
1) Remove damper bolt. You will need to keep the engine from rotating somehow. It's not good to turn it in the clockwise direction. If you have a manual tranny, you could put it in gear and have someone stand on the brake. Otherwise, you'll need to jam the flywheel somehow. A rubber strapwrench around the damper might also work(never tried it though, just an idea.)

2) Damper will now slide right off.

3) Get a paint marker and put a paint mark on the edge each pulley (2 cam & 1 crank). Then put a mark on the belt right next to each mark you made on the pulley. This is so you can put the belt back on in the exact same spot. You cannot be even one tooth off.

4) Remove belt tensioner.

5) Slide belt off of sprockets.

6) replace water pump.

7) put everything back together taking special care to set the tensioner correct using the built-in mark.

Note: The valve springs may cause a cam to move slightly when you release the tension on the belt. Don't worry. When you're ready to put the belt back on, turn the cam a little with an open end wrench using the cast-in hexagon on the cam. That's what they're for. As long as your paint marks line up when you're done, you're good. Also, don't loosen the cam sprocket bolts or you're paint marks won't be of any use.

Hi,

thank you for responding. YOu menttion "
Tara, you will have to remove the timing belt to change the water pump. That is a disadvantage of driving the pump with the timing belt."

Are you refering to the timing belt, or the serpentine belt?
The serpentine belt is the one that provides power to the alternator, water pump, power steering and A/C.

We have the serpentine belt removed, and have the water pump disconnected. I agree with you the crankshaft damper bolt and pulley need to be removed.

The main problem now isT getting clearance to remove the water pump from the car.

It looks like once that pulley is removed, we can physically remove the disconnected water pump.

But we do have to keep the engine from rotating. We will have to jam the flywheel somehow as you mention.The haynes book mentiones a crankshaft damper puller tool to remove the damper. but I don't know where that would be at, or the crankshaft damper installer. maybe the ford dealer, which we are trying to avoid by doing this ourselves.


Thank you!

Tara