Tips for removing water pump?

[MeltingDog]

Hi all,

I've read a few threads here about removing the water pump and they say to just undo the bolts and it will come out.

However, I'm stuck. I've undone the bolts but the plastic timing belt cover seems to be in the way - I can't get it out.

Do I have to remove the whole 2 covers? And in doing that, do I need to remove the aircon and powersteering belts? How many bolts hold in the covers (can't seem to find any diagrams)?

Any info would be great help! Thanks

(Car is an 88 2lt injected)

[Oldblueaccord]

Hi all,

I've read a few threads here about removing the water pump and they say to just undo the bolts and it will come out.

However, I'm stuck. I've undone the bolts but the plastic timing belt cover seems to be in the way - I can't get it out.

Do I have to remove the whole 2 covers? And in doing that, do I need to remove the aircon and powersteering belts? How many bolts hold in the covers (can't seem to find any diagrams)?

Any info would be great help! Thanks

(Car is an 88 2lt injected)

The top cover its just two bolts. Usually you can sneak it out with the cover on.

Double check with the new pump that you got all the bolts out. I cant remeber if its 4 or 5, and then use a rubber hammer or a block of wood and a hammer to knock it off. Its just rusted on.

[MeltingDog]

The top cover its just two bolts. Usually you can sneak it out with the cover on.

Double check with the new pump that you got all the bolts out. I cant remeber if its 4 or 5, and then use a rubber hammer or a block of wood and a hammer to knock it off. Its just rusted on.


So can you sort of bend the lower cover a bit to get it out?

I'm pretty stuck - the thing just doesn't want to budge.

[MeltingDog]

OK, so I'm a dumbass.

In taking everything apart I was sitting the old water pump bolts into their corresponding places on the new water pump for safe keeping and to know which bolt went where.

Only thing was I must have confused a bolt from somewhere else on the car and placed it in the new pump. I thought I had remove all 5 bolts, but the lower one was still in place.

Not knowing this I became a little frustrated and took a hammer and block of wood to the old pump...and cracked it along a flange, leaving the 5th bolt in place.

So, good news is the pump is off and only the old pump is damaged by my stupidity! Couldve gone a lot worse!

[MeltingDog]

Alright, this ended up being a huge pain for me and I hope it never goes this way for anyone else. I'll record what I did to make things easier if someone else finds this.

1. Drained radiator. Plastic petcock in lower middle of radiator, accessed from above. Sprayed some WD40 on the bolts I was going to work with.
2. Remove the rocker cover to allow access to remove top timing belt cover - 3 bolts on top, one hose, 2 bolts on cover. Not entirely necessary, but I found it made it easier.
3. Loosen bolts on pulley. Best to do with belt in place holding it still, but I ended up putting an allankey through a hole in the pulley and into one of the pump's bolt holes to keep it steady. I also used a breaker bar for more leverage.
4. I loosened off the alternator to move it out of the way and to move the belt. I jacked up the car and remove the front wheel, and loosened (but didn't remove) the large pin at the bottom of the alternator to allow it to swing. I then removed the bolt at the top of it that holds it on to the tensioner. I then pushed the alternator down and to the back of the car just a few inches to give myself room. I let the belt drop to the lower crank pulley.
5. I removed the metal brace that holds the top of the alternator in place.
6. I then went around the removed each of the bolts (all 10mm) holding the water pump in place. I placed each one into its corresponding place on the new water pump to remember which went where.
7. I removed the 3 bolts holding in the lower timing cover. My intention wasn't to remove it, just to make it easier for the waterpump to come out. 2 bolts below where the top cover bolts are, one near the large alternator pin, accessed from the wheel well (I had to move the splash guard out of the way to get good access).
8. I pulled on the pump to remove it (actually I used a hammer and wood dowel but don't do this - see above as to why) and wiggled it out of the way of the lower timing belt cover.
9. I cleaned the surface where the new pump will go using a razor and WD40 and making sure not to drop any bits of gasket sealer into the timing belt covers.
10. Prepared new pump by positioning new rubber gasket and using aviation gasket sealer around the edge.
11. Bolted in new pump - basically reverse of above.

Mistakes I made! Don't be like me!

* I was going to remove the pulley when the pump was outside of the engine. Don't do this it makes it harder to access the bolts underneath the pump.
* Ensure all your bolts are removed from the pump (I made the mistake of leaving one and trying to knock the pump out with a hammer - thankfully it only broke the old pump).
* Hammers shouldn't be used on cars.

[Dr_Snooz]

Water pump replacement is usually done as part of a complete timing belt service. All that pesky stuff is already out of the way by the time you go for the water pump.

I'm curious though. The water pump is sealed with a single large o-ring. Why were you scraping off gasket bits?

[MeltingDog]

Water pump replacement is usually done as part of a complete timing belt service. All that pesky stuff is already out of the way by the time you go for the water pump.

I'm curious though. The water pump is sealed with a single large o-ring. Why were you scraping off gasket bits?

Unfortunately the car isn't registered and in my country you need to pass an inspection to get it on the road. I assumed the grinding noise of the water pump would've probably prevented that so thought I'd replace it (and obviously thought it would be easier than it was). When it's registered I will take it to a mechanic to do the timing belt as its done about 170k klm/106k miles and I'm going to assume it was never done.

I'm assuming the old pump was replaced at some point in the past (it was GMB brand, same as my replacement pump. Don't know if these cars came with these pumps from the factory) and the last person to do it used some kind of liquid gasket as well as the O ring. I had some gasket sealant lying around so I thought I may as well do the same thing.