replacing water pump?

[BerniniCaCO3]

Hi!

Mechanically adept, but car repair newb here.
I bought a 1990 colony park wagon because it's eminently practical --I've used its full bed several times now, and appreciated the comparatively excellent fuel economy.

I also bought it with the thought that, perhaps, I could work on it.

Well, water pump started leaking from the gasket a few days ago. Perhaps related to the hose leak from 2 weeks ago, when the engine overheated but briefly.
Shop quoted $700.

Time to start learning to do my own work, as I had intended to

[BerniniCaCO3]

So here's my question.
I am following the haynes manual, imperfect. I've emptied my coolant, pulled off the fan (I had no idea it was asymmetrical!!), and started taking the nuts off the half dozen+ bolts that run through the water pump. Oh, and I have one of the two serpentine belts off.

There seem to be an awful lot of components bolted in front and through the water pump. Do they all get removed entirely? Alternator will be sitting on the shop table still married to its bracket? Whatever that pump on the passenger side, equally disembodied? Or once the bolts are out, do I slide the water pump out from behind these things without taking them off completely?

Second question. Nuts came off pretty easily, some of them stuck a little and unwound the bolts partially before the nut began turning again.
Does the water pump slide off the front of these bolts?
Or do I remove the bolts, too?
If I do remove the bolts, how do I do so without damaging their threads?

[BerniniCaCO3]

Final, tangential question.

Do I dare investigate, and either tune or replace the timing chain while I'm in there?
I've no idea how old it is. The car is 20 years old with 112,000 miles. The water pump doesn't look any newer than original.

How much time does the timing chain add to the job?
I'm careful and I'm reading my manuals, but how badly, and how easily, would I screw things up?

[andymac0035]

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?t=30966

Here ya' go, and there's pics on page #3.

[gadget73]

yes, all the brackets unbolt. I usually lay the alternator off to the side in the engine bay, but you can certainly pull it out of the car. Its the same difference really. Lay the PS pump off to the side. AC compressor will basically stay in place, the rear brackets will hold it but the front plate where the adjuster is needs to come off, as does the belt. All of the bolts come out, the pump doesn't slide off. Thats not a nut, its the bolt head. They have a funky bolt/stud sort of arrangement. First time doing the pump, I'd guess its a good 4-6 hour job. Just pay attention to where the parts came from, and be aware that all of those water pump bolts are a different length. Lay the new pump on the box and put the bolts in the proper hole if you want to make sorting them a bit easier. if you break one, then you may need to remove the timing cover to get further into it. Sometimes it does happen.

Doing the chain isn't that much more work, but on a 1990 with 112k, its probably OK. If you want to change it, I'd suggest a new balancer since it has to come off anyway.

[BerniniCaCO3]

Thanks for the help!
Decided not to do the timing chain.

Thank goodness, with all the warnings I got about the bolts, not one was rusted in place!

My only concern is that I ran clean out of the teeny 1oz tube of silicone they sold me at the parts store as being sufficient, and I had to resort to "regular" silicone, not advertised as specially heat resistant. But I needed my car running again!

I've put on 1000 miles, it's not leaking yet; but I worry for the future!
That's ok, this was my first real car repair job, and I can chalk it up to practice and experience if I have to redo it. Maybe I'll do the timing chain then.

[sly]

yeah... those tiny tubes don't last long, but if you're REAL miserly with them it will make the entire job. Had to change the pump on my 88 MGM and managed to get the goop to last just long enough. One tube was more than enough for my 93 escort though... go figure, much smaller pump.

[BerniniCaCO3]

Do you think the generic silicone will hold for a while longer (though maybe not another 110,000 miles), or is it going to break down really quickly?

[sly]

if you used actual silicone and not acrylic caulk it should hold for a while. Not real sure about it's chemical durability against antifreeze though. That would be my real concern. The heat of the engine may make it brittle up faster than the other stuff though so you should probably get an extra set of gaskets and couple tubes of goop for when it does leak.

[cld783]

if it doesn't leak now your good... If it does end up leaking, it's probably because you used to much.