water pump

[barrykeitt]

how long should it take to replace a water pump on a 2000 pontiac grand am 4 cylinder

[swingline]

if it's a quad 4, perhaps the rest of your life.

it's driven by the timing chain, those quad fours are a pain.

alldata book time is 6.3 hours.

[gmtech1]

Agree with the above statement. It's a pretty in depth process with special tools required to hold the cam gears in the correct position. If you are going to attempt it I suggest buying and manual and following every step.

[Tech II]

Obviously, you had sticker shock on the price of the job....

This is like a 700-1000 dollar job.....just for water pump, not including additional parts.....

When doing the job, belt has to be inspected/replaced.....

Now would be the time for a coolant flush.......also replace the thermostat.....

The exhaust manifold has to be removed......the timing cover has to be removed......chain, cam sprockets, crank sprocket, guides, and tensioner/shoe all have to be inspected/replaced......

After the pump is replaced, the timing chain is installed and the engine has to be timed, or you end up with bent valves or a poor idle.....then everything is put back together, and coolant added and burped.....this is a quite involved job.....

By contrast, if you had a 3.1 or 3.4, the water pump job would be around $200, because it an easy job, less than an hour.....

[xeroinfinity]

this is a PITA procedure ! I'd agree with picking up a service manual.

This is one i have not wrote up completely for the Tips & Maintenance section. The 2.4L is a lot different than the newer 2.2L, both not much fun.
But after you've changed them out 200-300 times, it gets a lil quicker than 6 hrs.