Water pump replacement charge....

[greekguy7]

My water pump bearing was making a lot of noise and I just wasnt in the mood to mess with it so I took it in to the shop.

How many hours labor would you say is fair to charge for this job on a 1987 Accord LXi??

BTW..... it has 272k miles on it...... still hanging in there.

[DBMaster]

Last time I did my timing belt I used an aftermarket pump that I bought just for convenience. It was a brand new name brand pump that cost more than I ended up paying for a genuine Honda pump 18,000 miles later when the bearing was shot. Take my advice, stick with a genuine Honda pump no matter what you do.

It was a good bit more of a pain to replace the pump without removing the timing belt cover. It took me about two hours.

[LiTtLe xOx BitT]

2 hours sounds like a normal amount of time to put it in. It all depends on how well the person knows the car to be able to say how long it will take. If they know nothing aout it and never did one before it will take longer then someone who has.

[A20A1]

My GMB has held up, I'm running it on my Accord and my Toyota.
They had a much better cast impeller, the other pump had some dinky metal fin impeller.

[nswst8]

Any decent shop is going to charge $400-450 for the waterpump, reason being is the timing belt is involved. I can do the timing belt and water pump in about 2-3 hours.

And I would stay with Honda for the H2o pump it cost alittle more but is reliable unless someone is gong to give you a labor warranty with the pump. Which NAPA authorized installers can give.

[3rdCoast]

how do u test the water pump to see if its going bad before it actually does take a shit on u???????? my bad i didnt mean to steal the thread but i figured y start a new one when u seem to have had ur question answered and its still on the same part of the car.....

[AZmike]

Check for play in the bearing by trying to tilt the water pump's pulley. If there is any play it should be replaced soon.

[bobafett]

well if your car overheats and water isnt moving thru your radiator, its usually a block in the system, low on water, or bad waterpump. also its one of those parts that you should replace periodically anyway. :)

[3rdCoast]

ok so any wobble in the pully means its time for a new water pump. I have 2 3geez and one already has a dead water pump and i need the check the other one so................yeah thnx

[POS carb]

you don't need to change the timing belt... the job should not take more than 2 hours

[DBMaster]

I should throw this in. Honda's bearing design is supposedly patented. I think the pump that went bad on me was a GMB. The Honda pump tends to tolerate a pulley that is out of true (like mine was) much better. To be on the safe side I went ahead and replaced the pulley last time since it was cheap enough.

[NXRacer]

what are you guys smoking?? the timing belt isnt involved when changing our water pumps!! I can do one in 1/2 hour. The hardest part is figuring out where all the bolts are . . . . .

[DBMaster]

I wish I were smoking something!

The hardest part for me was prying back the timing belt cover the get the pump out. When you are changing the T-belt and have the cover off it comes right out. I wish I could have done it in a half hour!

[NXRacer]

i just pried the shit out of the t-belt cover and it popped out enough to where i could get the bolt out of the waterpump. the t-belt doesnt have to come out to replace the water pump, its just the cover that has to be moved.

[DBMaster]

One of the fasteners is a nut on a threaded shaft with one end threaded into the engine block. If you can get that out it is MUCH easier. Someone posted on here a couple of years ago about threading two nuts onto the shaft and locking them together to be able to remove unscrew the shaft from the block. I would highly recommend doing that.

[buds302]

i can change a waterpump in under an hour and not have to touch the timing belt. i dont even have to lossen it

[buds302]

what are you guys smoking?? the timing belt isnt involved when changing our water pumps!! I can do one in 1/2 hour. The hardest part is figuring out where all the bolts are . . . . .

i believe theres six but im not real sure. but yea i say an hour just cause i havent done it in two years but still i cna do it pretty fast. and also a waterpump only costs 25 bucks from the autoparts store

[A20A1]

My water pump bearing was making a lot of noise and I just wasnt in the mood to mess with it so I took it in to the shop.
How many hours labor would you say is fair to charge for this job on a 1987 Accord LXi??
BTW..... it has 272k miles on it...... still hanging in there.


It's like $30-$50 for the pump and to do it yourself is simple... just have a 10mm and 12mm wrench and socket.

make sure the new pump comes with a replacement gasket.

Loosen the alternator to get off the belt

Remove the waterpump pully

remove the waterpump
get some gasket sealer in a tube... I used the red-orange colored gasket sealer and put a very thin line inside the groove of the new pump just before laying the gasket in the groove and installing the pump. That way the gasket sealer will help keep the rubber gakset in place while you install the pump.

[3rdgenhatchDX]

So, the shop told me to buy one while i'm getting my headgasket replaced, and i went to the parts store (autozone) and it asked for which 1. With pulley 2. without pulley, so i called and they didn't know, my car wasn't w/me and they said they'd pick it up when i brought the car, to save a parts run for them i'd like to know which mine is if anybody knows... (I HAVE AN A20A1)

P.S. I'm buying the parts to get my money's worth, it saves the worry of them buying all napa parts... :thumbdn: and hopefully it will make the ride more reliable... thanx for all input...

[88Accord-DX]

A20A1 has a pulley that turns the water pump. Since your doing a head gasket replacement. Other things that are good to replace are timing belt, tensioner, head bolts.
There is no need to mess with the timing belt if you just replacing the water pump alone.
Edit- the only thing in replacing the water pump is to remove the pulley to reach the water pump bolts that hold it on.

[Honda-Master]

i just pried the shit out of the t-belt cover and it popped out enough to where i could get the bolt out of the waterpump. the t-belt doesnt have to come out to replace the water pump, its just the cover that has to be moved.


you dont have to pry at all, you could damage the cover ,, just remove the 2 bolts on the rt side of lower t-belt cover, below and above the pump..that will give you a lot of clearance to remove and reinstall water pump with ease ,,

[A20A1]

Yeah I have a spare pully... don't worry about A20A3 and A20A1 pullies it really wont matter the grooves are the same.

[Cant Stop]

time should be like 30min- 1 hour labor since your head is being changed/repaired so the timing belt cover has to come off anyways.
great thing on these 3g's is the external pump!

[3rdgenhatchDX]

k cool thanx and all things mentioned are being replaced...