96+ Water Pump Replacement (Detailed instructions)

[gman2153]

That was a great string of informative pictures..

Even a non-mechanic type like me can easily follow it..

Thanks for the bloody hand pic, I can truly relate to that... LOL

Good Job.... Thanks.

[Fred Klintworth]

I used this yesterday to replace the water pump on my son's 1998 Blazer, and first of all I want to thank Blaze for writing this, and the person who supplied the photos. Great job guys!

I'd like to add a couple of comments in the interest of helping others:
1) I wasted a lot of time trying to loosen the large nut holding the fan. I actually rented a took kit at AutoZone (Advance didn't have it); but it didn't work -- wrong sizes I guess, I never figured out how it worked. Anyway, the way I got it loose was to put additional tension on the belt, and repeatedly whacking the adjustable wrench until it came loose. To get the extra tension on the belt I put a 3/8" socket wrench head (the square part) into a square hole in the belt tensioner (left side of engine when viewed from front, below alternator), and had my son pull up on the socket wrench while I whacked the side of the adjustable wrench repeatedly. It didn't come loose easy -- took about 10 really hard whacks.
2) If you're going to use an adjustable wrench to loosen the big fan nut, you have to have a big one. I had to use my biggest one.
3) Don't make the mistake I did and try to put tension on the belt by putting a socket on the nut holding the belt tensioner. You don't use a socket at all. You insert the square head of the socket wrench into the pre-cut square hole in the tensioner.
4) I didn't use the radiator drain plug to drain the radiator. It had a special head I couldn't turn by hand, and I was affraid I'd ruin it if I turned it with a flat-head screw driver. I just drained the fluid by removing the water pump.
5) There is a large hose that connects to the water pump that is not shown in these pictures. It's on the bottom left. No big deal to remove it too.
6) Aligning the new pump in order to insert the 4 bolts is awkward. To facilitate alignment, I put a couple of smaller screws in the two top holes of the pump, and inserted them into the engine holes to temporarily hold the pump in place while I screwed in the two bottom bolts.
7) We went ahead and replaced both the thermostat and the serpentine belt too. The thermostat is held in place by two nuts at the front center of the engine. I bought a gasket for it separately, but didn't need it, since the thermostat's rubber outer ring is in fact the gasket.
8) Advance sells a small pouch of blue RTV for 98 cents which is ideal for this. I used it on both sides of the two gaskets for the water pump. I didn't use any RTV for the thermostat, and it didn't leak.

Hope this helps you.

[CanvasBack@triton.]

Originally Posted by laxman21

Nice post.

I couldn't get the fan clutch off mine. The shop said he used an air chisel with a flat bit to start the nut off.

[quote=CanvasBack] Very helpful.

I had some trouble with the fan clutch also...but by using your 3/8 ratchet to APPLY tension to the belt, it held just enough to allow the nut to pop loose.

[mwaldrp]

Rather than using a long wrench and tapping it to remove the fan and fan clutch, a simpler way is to use the wrench on the fan nut and a socket wrench with a 24 mm socket on the alternator nut. Turn the two tools in opposite directions. This allows you to use friciton from the serpintine belt to make loosening the fan nut a bit easier. Doing it this way, I had the fan nut loosened and the fan/clutch assembly removed in a matter of minutes with very little trouble.

[Bob E]

Is this pretty much the same if you have an X in the vin #. The pump looks different.

[Bob E]

sounds like your pump is differnt. you must have a vin# with an X in it.

Originally Posted by Fred Klintworth

I used this yesterday to replace the water pump on my son's 1998 Blazer, and first of all I want to thank Blaze for writing this, and the person who supplied the photos. Great job guys!

I'd like to add a couple of comments in the interest of helping others:
1) I wasted a lot of time trying to loosen the large nut holding the fan. I actually rented a took kit at AutoZone (Advance didn't have it); but it didn't work -- wrong sizes I guess, I never figured out how it worked. Anyway, the way I got it loose was to put additional tension on the belt, and repeatedly whacking the adjustable wrench until it came loose. To get the extra tension on the belt I put a 3/8" socket wrench head (the square part) into a square hole in the belt tensioner (left side of engine when viewed from front, below alternator), and had my son pull up on the socket wrench while I whacked the side of the adjustable wrench repeatedly. It didn't come loose easy -- took about 10 really hard whacks.
2) If you're going to use an adjustable wrench to loosen the big fan nut, you have to have a big one. I had to use my biggest one.
3) Don't make the mistake I did and try to put tension on the belt by putting a socket on the nut holding the belt tensioner. You don't use a socket at all. You insert the square head of the socket wrench into the pre-cut square hole in the tensioner.
4) I didn't use the radiator drain plug to drain the radiator. It had a special head I couldn't turn by hand, and I was affraid I'd ruin it if I turned it with a flat-head screw driver. I just drained the fluid by removing the water pump.
5) There is a large hose that connects to the water pump that is not shown in these pictures. It's on the bottom left. No big deal to remove it too.
6) Aligning the new pump in order to insert the 4 bolts is awkward. To facilitate alignment, I put a couple of smaller screws in the two top holes of the pump, and inserted them into the engine holes to temporarily hold the pump in place while I screwed in the two bottom bolts.
7) We went ahead and replaced both the thermostat and the serpentine belt too. The thermostat is held in place by two nuts at the front center of the engine. I bought a gasket for it separately, but didn't need it, since the thermostat's rubber outer ring is in fact the gasket.
8) Advance sells a small pouch of blue RTV for 98 cents which is ideal for this. I used it on both sides of the two gaskets for the water pump. I didn't use any RTV for the thermostat, and it didn't leak.

Hope this helps you.

[nickdaytona]

my fan clutch was a bitch as well, but I found a strange and effective way to get it off. On the front of the A/C compressor bracket there is a threaded hole which I put in a 3" bolt. I then put a 10mm wrench onto one of the water pump pulley bolts ( at approx 5 O'clock positon) and rotated the fan until the top of the 10 mm wrench notched onto the 3 " bolt, thereby locking it. fan nut came loose no problem after that. Gear wrench's are better for this as they are a little longer than the short 10 mm wrenches you get in the tool sets.

[Schrade]

I got a few pics from the pump swap I did today.

Where is the upload attachment prompt???

[rockinpr]

great instructions great pix just finished my pump installation ,if I may add one tip though its to use a couple of studs (bolts with no heads) in the block to slide the pump on so its easyer to line the pump up (it was kind of hard to see the bolt hole on my 97 with everything in the way) a couple long screwdriver would probaly do.

[FantasticChadwick]

Originally Posted by rockinpr

great instructions great pix just finished my pump installation ,if I may add one tip though its to use a couple of studs (bolts with no heads) in the block to slide the pump on so its easyer to line the pump up (it was kind of hard to see the bolt hole on my 97 with everything in the way) a couple long screwdriver would probaly do.

Sounds like a great idea! That would indeed make the installation a lot easier and take a lot of the guess work out of it!

Chadwick

[Xcrewchief]

This is what worked for me to loosen the fan nut : Use a 13 mm box wrench on the pulley bolt and lay the other end up on the tensioner pivot point. Then when you try to loosen the nut with whatever wrench you use (I used a big pair of channel locks), you loosen it while the tension on the wrench holds it in place.
For reinstall, I used an adjustable rubber filter wrench (an old one that I had in my 'Just-in-Case-I-Need-It' box to put tension on the pulley.

Great post and keep talkin', guys!

[jborim]

Great explanation and illustration Blazee. You saved me 400 bucks! Thank you!

[wafrederick]

There is one place those special fan clutch wrenches can go go,in the garbage can!They are too thin and can break very easily.I use an air hammer with with a long chisel bit which works better.This method requires with the belt still on putting the bit on the end of the flat of the nut.

[kuksooljohn]

Thanks, going to do mine tomorow or sunday. I have a chevy Express but what you showed me will work!

[satcat]

Thanks for the detailed procedure.. blazee...
When I removed the fan clutch, I just used a big-ass crescent wrench, and gave it a sharp smack with a hammer.
It took a few tries but it eventually broke loose..