ALT-1 How to Replace a Water Pump
If you find your car is overheating because of lack of coolant, even though you’ve just topped it up, then you need to take some action. After eliminating the problem being caused by a leaky coolant hose, or even a blown head gasket, then that leaves the water pump.
Sometimes you’re lucky to be able to find the fault immediately. A dodgy water pump can make some funny noises in its death throes. Or you may even see the coolant leaking out around the water pump’s gasket. However you trace it, you now need to replace it.
You need to get yourself a proper repair manual for your make and model of car. This will tell you where the pump is situated, and also give you a better idea of what you have to do to remove it. Once that’s done, and you have the replacement coolant pump in your possession, it’s time to start.
Get your car somewhere undercover to work, and an area where you can lay out the car parts and bolts as you remove them. You should remove the negative post from the battery terminal for safety reasons, but don’t do that until you have the car security alarm and radio codes to hand. You will have to disarm the alarm by entering the proper code, so check you have the right key code with you.
Once organised, it’s time to drain the coolant system of water. Catch as much of this coolant in a container as you can. Otherwise, you will be standing on a wet floor for the rest of the day.
Take off the air cleaner assembly first, and you will need to remove the auxiliary drive belt too. Slacken and remove any pipes or hoses running to or from the water pump. Depending on the make of car you have, this is the point where you may have to bring in the engine hoist and dismantle a large section of your engine to free the pump. If you are lucky, and you own a sensibly designed car, you will only have to undo the retaining bolts securing the pump to the mounting bracket, and pull the pump clear.
Clean the old gasket off the facing of the engine block, taking care to not scratch the metal. Apply the new gasket and re-attach the water pump. Either re-build your engine as described in the repair manual, or for us few lucky ones, pop the few bits, bobs, and hoses back into place. Fill the coolant system, attach the negative battery terminal, and reset the security alarm and radio codes.
All you have to do now is start the car and check the hoses for leaks. You may need to top up with a bit more coolant. You should now have a car with a working cooling system, and no bits lying about which have been left over from the rebuild.
