water pump

I have a 94 Pontiac Grand Am with a 3100 series engine. I finally traced down a leak thats been haunting me for about a week. Its coming from the water pump :(.

After looking at it it looks like a real pain to get too.:banghead::banghead:
So the real question is can someone give me some instructions to changing the pump.

Please and Thank You.

its easy as cake!
or pie,, which ever you like :)

I'd first pull the negative on the battery.

Then use a 3/8 ratchet or a belt removal tool,
to remove the serpentine belt.

I forget what size the bolts are on the WP pulley,
think 10 mm, remove those.

You will have to hold the pulley still.
By placing a wrench(or something flat)diagonaly between the bolts like this "/.

Then thiers 6-8 bolts holding on the WP.
They too are 10mm I think...
all the bolts should be the same anyway.

Then reverse to install.

Top off coolant let run to get all the air out of the cooling system.
Might help to keep the heater on full blast so no air hides in thier.

Hope that helped.

Thanks a bunch. So this job shouldn't take too long?

I'm going to do it tomorrow I'm off all day so it doesn't really matter how long it takes.

THANKS AGAIN.

If you take you time, maybe an hour tops :grinyes:

wasnt to hard. ran into some problems, found it easier to go through the wheel well cuz the upper engine mount was in the way.

thanks again.

Uh sorry about that, I forgot the engine mount is in the way.

I never go through the fender, just more work :grinyes:

with the tools i had with me the ratchet head was too fat. i have to do it again now i guess i didnt tighten it down enough or something cuz its still leaking (I couldn't get a torque wrench down there). So I'm going to pull it off again. How would YOU do it if it were you. my grandpa's trying to make me take it to a shop cuz i messed up and I dont want to pay $166 for someone to put on a $30 part.

O and another thing. The low coolant light will not go off even though its full of coolant. bad sensor or is this another bad waterpump problem.

I dont even know if the pump was bad i just knew it was leaking and i thought it would be better to change it while I had it off instead of pulling it off cleaning it up, putting on a new gasket and putting it back on just to have it die on me.

if you've already done the job you can do it, get the right tools if you need to, that way your not just wasting money on labor for something you can do yourself. get a 1/4" ratchet and the correct socket for the bolts (this should give you the room you need. get a new gasket & make sure both surfaces are cleaned up well (organic steel wool works great & is cheap). If there is enough room to get the gasket in there while on the water pump put gasket sealer on the water pump, then install the gasket, then seal the motor side of the gasket (a thin layer is all you need, just think of it as glue to hold the gasket there until its installed), then put on the engine & put the bolts in. Run the bolts in by hand, then uses the 1/4" ratchet to get them all snug (at the same time, a turn or two on each one at at time), you really shouldn't have to go any tighter then the 1/4" ratchet will give you leverage for, if you see a touch of gasket sealer around the edges and all of your bolts are snug thats all you need to do. Put the rest of the car back together & let it sit for a few hours before you put coolant in the motor (overnight works best if your not in a hurry, but 2 - 3 hours is enough time for the gasket sealer to set up).

If there are tight spots you can't get a 1/4" ratchet in, use an open end wrench or box end wrench, they make closed end wrenches with an offset to allow you to get to the bolts.

As far as the coolant light, thats a problem many grand ams have after draining the coolant, sometimes you can't get all of the air away from the sensor in the bottle. I fill the car, let it run in park with the coolant lid off, keep an eye on the temp & make sure the overflow bottle never runs dry, let it run for about 20 mins + to get all of the air out, let the coolant boil out (as long as the cars temp isn't in the red zone), this will help get the air out, the temp should level out around 200 degrees & the fan should kick on, I let the fan kick on twice then shut down the car, let the car cool down & fill coolant level to recomended level, put the lid on the overflow bottle, remove the bolt & shake the bottle, mount bottle back to fender. sometimes the light still stays on, it will go off in a day or two, just check the coolant everytime before you drive it, its just an idiot light to let you know you have a coolant leak or need to add some. One or two days of driving the car gets the air bubbles off of the sensor.

On the water pump, like gmack said replace the gasket.
Just becarefull not to over tighten the bolts as they can break :eek7:

On the coolant level sensor,
thiers probly air bubbles on the it.

I havent paid anyone to work on my cars for 15-20 years :grinyes:

Almost forgot !
When you tighten the water pump mounting bolts
tighten them in a criss cross pattern.
This will help keep the pressure even .

Thanks everyone I did it this morning. Just took my time and didnt try and rush. Took a lil over an hour. But I got it done correctly and the light went off :).

After wards I took it to Wheel Works for its 20point inspection. (by request of my grandpa) and found out I need

*front brakes (resurface rotors)
*rear brakes (resurface drums)
*brake fluid
*oil change (due to leaking oil sending unit)
*new upper and lower radiator hoses
*wiper blades
*air filter
*coolant flush
*tranny flush (and filter)

good thing is I know how to do most of this stuff. I consider myself lucky considering it sat with no one driving it for over a year.

One thing, DO NOT get the trans flushed :nono:

Change the fluid & filter, but flushing washes away to much friction matterial and you'll probly have severe troubles with it afterwards :thumbsup:

thats what i meant. I dont do tranny flushes for that reason. I heard to many horror stories about them.

BUT...

i havent' heard any stories about engine flushes.. are they safe? The oil is really dirty, i usually just use a can of seafoam run it for a few days and dump the oil but some wheel works worker said seafoam wouldn't be strong enough. So I thought okay i'll use a quart of ATF, same answer. Only solution (according to him) is a engine flush and he told me I could get the can of crap from Autozone for about $5. I usually am not a chemical person but if I get an okay from everyone here I'll give it a shot.

Off for the next two days so hopefully I can get most of this done.

I don't recomend engine flush, its basically diesel, thins the heck out of your oil & allows wear on the engine parts. I would use the seafoam 2 or 3 times before using the engine flush once. Any engine with 150,000 miles on it is going to have oil buildup, that doesn't mean its doing any harm, sure its best to get it out of there, but an engine can run just fine and have buildup.

Why do you need to change the brake fluid? I never change it unless I have to pull something apart on the system thats going to drain fluid, my motto is the more you mess with it ... the more of a chance you have to screw it up ... if you have a soft brake pedal by all means bleed the brakes ... but if its fine & you don't have mess with anything don't ... look at it this way, another 50K and you'll be tired of the car ... so im sure if you can you will get something else.

I don't recomend engine flush, its basically diesel, thins the heck out of your oil & allows wear on the engine parts. I would use the seafoam 2 or 3 times before using the engine flush once. Any engine with 150,000 miles on it is going to have oil buildup, that doesn't mean its doing any harm, sure its best to get it out of there, but an engine can run just fine and have buildup.

Why do you need to change the brake fluid? I never change it unless I have to pull something apart on the system thats going to drain fluid, my motto is the more you mess with it ... the more of a chance you have to screw it up ... if you have a soft brake pedal by all means bleed the brakes ... but if its fine & you don't have mess with anything don't ... look at it this way, another 50K and you'll be tired of the car ... so im sure if you can you will get something else.

Well this is everything whell works told me i needed. Nothing i thought about doing myself besides oil change and brakes. So I'll just run seafoam a few times and then move up to some very good oil. Not really my car so I gotta take the best care of it possible.

Doing Coolant flush in about an hour, mainly because its so dirty but its also time for it.

I meant bleed the brakes not change out all of the fluid.

SO...
wheres the fuel filter?

Why do you need to change the brake fluid? I never change it unless I have to pull something apart on the system thats going to drain fluid, my motto is the more you mess with it ... the more of a chance you have to screw it up ... if you have a soft brake pedal by all means bleed the brakes ... but if its fine & you don't have mess with anything don't ... look at it this way, another 50K and you'll be tired of the car ... so im sure if you can you will get something else.

After time moisture builds up within the brake lines.
Thus causing your brakes not to function properly.
Like when that one rear wheel locks and drags :grinyes:

Both my 99's have been drained of thier old and new installed. Made a BIG differance in braking too.
It is something that needs done at some point.

SO...
wheres the fuel filter?

Its above the rear axle.
This link (http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/09/ea/10/0900823d8009ea10.jsp)will help you out.

thank you, doing that next. since my oil sending unit is leaking i'll most likely have to change it right? Or can I take it off and clean it?

if it leaks around the threads use teflon tape on the threads.

Thanks. The oil sending unit holds the oil filter right? Or am I taking it off for no reason.

Never did do that coolant flush (started raining) and I couldn't figure which hose was the heater inlet hose for my Prestone Back-Flush thingy.

No the oil sending unit does not hold the oil filter in.
It is screwed on.
The oil sending unit is small, should look something like this.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000FPXWR8.01-A2IO25XLSN41ME._AA280_SCLZZZZZZZ_V51983032_.jpg

hhmmm learn something new everyday.
I wonder where it is.

time to check autozone.

hope this isn't considered reviving an old thread...


finally got time to put in my new sending unit tomorrow. Now i just have to figure out where it is. autozone says Under hood, passenger side, lower engine area, below
end of front valve cover, mounted on block

So...is it under the car? or will i be able to find it easier
from above the car. I'm also changing my oil tomorrow so I'll
be doing this while its draining.

You access the sending unit frm the top.
Might have to remove anything in the way,
like alternator, powersteering pump.

Remember to use teflon tape on the threads :thumbsup:
Or it'll leak :eek7:

i actually found it easier to go from under the car and just remove the starter. (i think i do things the hard way)

but thanks for all your help i used the tape and i think it may be the best $.97 i spent.
the new unit was bigger than the OEM one i hope it doesnt mess anything up autozone said it was an upgrade w/ a lifetime warranty so i'll just hold onto my receipt.