Going to replace my severely leaking water pump. The car leaks at the back of the pump even while the car is off. Do you guys have any suggestions on what should also be done once I'm in there? Belt is new, upper and lower radiator hoses are new. just looking for some basic things. Can't afford anything big but simple things I can. I have a couple extra ($100) bucks to throw at it so let me know. Thank you in advance.
Replacing water pump
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I would soak the bolts and studs down with PB Blaster or another penetrant for several days in advance as they like to seize up. As far as what else you could do, a thermostat and coolant flush would probably be beneficial to do at this time. Also put anti-seize on the bolts and studs when reinstalling them just in case you need to remove them again in the future.
If you are removing the water pump there's a chance a water pump bolt could break off.
Maybe more than one if you really have some bad luck.
Last time I did it I had one bolt break,but it was on the top of the timing cover and an easy out with a propane torch got the broken bolt out.
I cleaned the threads on all the bolts and used antiseize on every bolt.
I used Hylomar gasket sealer on every gasket,including the one on the back of the water pump.
Maybe more than one if you really have some bad luck.
Last time I did it I had one bolt break,but it was on the top of the timing cover and an easy out with a propane torch got the broken bolt out.
I cleaned the threads on all the bolts and used antiseize on every bolt.
I used Hylomar gasket sealer on every gasket,including the one on the back of the water pump.
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As mentioned, be prepared for broken bolts. If it doesn't happen you are lucky so be prepared to deal with it if you need your car as a driver. It's not a hard job, but can be time consuming If you start breaking off bolts. I did mine this summer and only broke off one bolt. Based on advice of others here I was prepared and ordered the ARP water pump and timing cover bolt kit. I replaced my timing chain, timing cover, water pump, harmonic balancer and radiator while I was there because they were all original.
Just be prepared for the unexpected because the water flows through the timing cover from the block and can be leaking from there. Is your pump leaking out the weep hole on the bottom of it???
Just be prepared for the unexpected because the water flows through the timing cover from the block and can be leaking from there. Is your pump leaking out the weep hole on the bottom of it???
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Get new coolant bypass hoses too while in there. I bought my 90 degree bent small hose from Summit racing for cheap, here is their part# for it: GTR-63641.
Make sure your new water pump is the correct rotation as your old one. Change out the radiator cap with a new pressure relief one. Loosen up the bolts holding the fan blade BEFORE you remove the fan belt...this will help in keeping it still while breaking the bolts loose. I suggest taking the radiator OUT before you remove the fan and water-pump. Flush out everything with the water hose before beginning too, this will help with keeping the slippery radiator fluid off everything your working on. Good luck and by the way, most of the bolts are different lengths so do your best to remember where they came out of. If you have over 100,000 miles on your timing chain, I would replace that also while there.
Best of luck to you!
Make sure your new water pump is the correct rotation as your old one. Change out the radiator cap with a new pressure relief one. Loosen up the bolts holding the fan blade BEFORE you remove the fan belt...this will help in keeping it still while breaking the bolts loose. I suggest taking the radiator OUT before you remove the fan and water-pump. Flush out everything with the water hose before beginning too, this will help with keeping the slippery radiator fluid off everything your working on. Good luck and by the way, most of the bolts are different lengths so do your best to remember where they came out of. If you have over 100,000 miles on your timing chain, I would replace that also while there.
Best of luck to you!
God bless California cars. Bolts came out easily. Can't get crank shaft bolt out with just the ratchet and socket so gonna go to impact gun which means I need to pull the radiator because the gun doesn't fit between the crank shaft bolt and the radiator. Hopefully my friend lets me borrow the gun tomorrow. Any other ideas on how to be the bolt out other than putting the breaker bar on the socket and resting it n a pulley then turning the car over? Looks like that could cause a whole lot of other problems
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do you still have the belt on the car? if you do sometimes if you pull on the belt at the same time you use the breaker bar it will be enough to get it loose. if it is a manual car put the car in first or reverse and have someone stand on the brake while you try. just make sure you aren't under the car. but honestly if you use the belt you can usually get enough torque to loosen the balancer bolt.
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do you still have the belt on the car? if you do sometimes if you pull on the belt at the same time you use the breaker bar it will be enough to get it loose. if it is a manual car put the car in first or reverse and have someone stand on the brake while you try. just make sure you aren't under the car. but honestly if you use the belt you can usually get enough torque to loosen the balancer bolt. btw. if you are changing your timing chain I like to put the timing cover on to the dowels, and maybe one bolt loosely then slide the balancer back in, (you obviously need to replace the crank seal and make sure your crank is not grooved to prevent leaks.) after the balancer is seated all the way then put the waterpump and the rest of the timing cover bolts all at the same time. that allows the balancer to help center the crank seal and if you put the waterpump and timing cover on together the sealer sets up with less chance of leakage. btw make sure when you get your waterpump that you look the back of it over. many times they will come with two gaskets and you need to take the back plate off and install the gasket between the pump and the backing plate apply rtv, tighten the bolts, then the gasket between the backing plate and timing cover and more rtv otherwise you will get a leak between the backing plate and the waterpump.
Thanks mccance. Will definitley be looking back at this thread when it goes back together. After getting under the car a few days ago, I could see the pump was leaking like crazy through the weep hole. I'll try throwing the belt back on in the morning and having my neighbor hold it while I try the crank bolt again. If that doesn't work then out comes the radiator
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just be careful you don't catch his fingers between the belt and pulley lol. another option if that fails is to remove the pulley from the harmonic balancer and put a couple bolts back in and use a pry bar on those bolts to hold the balancer while you remove the bolt. I have had to do that a couple times. usually the belt method works though.
Well got it all apart, cleaned up and ready to put back together. Can't get the front main seal in. TC cover is off so should have been easy but i just can't get it in. I've used lubricant but it looks like I'm going to have to take it to someone who has a press....ugh
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you should not need a press, and that in my opinion is a good way to crack your timing cover. obviously on 5.0 mustangs the seal goes in from the outside. so Just lay it flat, put the seal on it and position it as perfectly as you can. lay a piece of 2x4 across it and give it a couple sharp whacks with a hammer. once you get it started continue to drive it in with the hammer and 2x4 making checking every whack or so to make sure you drive it in square. it is pretty straightforward. I specifically would not use a press on this though. jmo
btw how did you end up getting the balancer bolt out?
btw how did you end up getting the balancer bolt out?
Thanks guys. Got a friends impact gun for the crank bolt. Had a scare and thought I stripped it because it looked crooked but it went back in fine. Gotta bolt up the fan, fill with coolant and an oil change as some coolant leaked into the oil pan when the TC cover was off. Fingers crossed wrenchin.gif
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