Water pump

[gadan]

I have a leaking water pump on my 2000 venture, I checked around (3 mech shops) and the cheapest price is around 300. Does anybody know how to change it?. Can you give me any advice. Thanks....

[gadan]

Originally Posted by gadan

I have a leaking water pump on my 2000 venture, I checked around (3 mech shops) and the cheapest price is around 300. Does anybody know how to change it?. Can you give me any advice. Thanks....

Also I need to know how to open the drain plug at the botton of the radiator, there is a hole there, do I need a tool?
Thanks guys....

[gadan]

Originally Posted by gadan

Also I need to know how to open the drain plug at the botton of the radiator, there is a hole there, do I need a tool?
Thanks guys....

Somebody please.........

[racechaser]

Well on mine you you turn the petcock about a half turn the pull it straight out. It will stay in the radiator but water will drain. I needed pliers but don't force it or it will break.

I changed my pump myself. Was not bad but I work on all my stuff. Plus mine is 97 maybe different.

Scott

[gadan]

Thank you Scott, I also have a 98 Venture and the plug is like yours, but I have another Venture 2000 but this plastic plug has a hole, so I was wandering if you need a tool.
Thank you very much for your help.

[KJRich]

I just remove the lower hose when I drain the radiator. Its a little tight, but I've had problems with the petcocks leaking on newer vehicle radiators, when you use them. The old metal ones on old cars never leaked for me.

[DRW1000]

Back to the water pump...................

My 99 has a coolant leak. I thought the worst (head Gasket) but I am now wondering if it might be the water pump. There is a noise and when the van is running there is a bit of coolant flying around near what I think is the water pump when the engine is running. I am used to the water pump being behing the fan or run off of a timing belt.

Is the water pump the fist pulley one sees when looking at the drive belt? It looks like the coolant hose from the rad hooks up to it. If so it shoud be easy to replace. Has anyone done this? I reall am not sure if it is the water pump as I am not used to seeing one of this type.

[cdru]

Originally Posted by DRW1000

Is the water pump the fist pulley one sees when looking at the drive belt? It looks like the coolant hose from the rad hooks up to it. If so it shoud be easy to replace. Has anyone done this? I reall am not sure if it is the water pump as I am not used to seeing one of this type.

Yes it is. The pully will be smooth as it rides on the back side of the belt. It's fairly simple to replace. You'll drain the coolant system and remove the serpentine belt. There are 4 bolts that hold the pully to the water pump hub. Once the pully is off, you can easily get to the 5 or 6 bolts that hold the pump on. Reinstalltion is reverse of removal. A new gasket will probably come with the pump if you buy aftermarket. The water pump bolts will get torqued to 89 lb in, while the pully bolts to 18 lb ft.

The usual failure mode for the water pump is for the bearing to start to leak. There is a weep hole on the bottom of the water pump just for this purpose. I wouldn't think that a significant amount of coolant would leak out though for you to noticably see it spraying around the engine compartment. Head gasket in this case probably isn't likely either as you'd have other problems as well as coolant would likely just run down the block; there isn't an easy way for the coolant to get over to the belts to be sprayed. Other possibilities would be a leaky lower radiator hose (or bad clamp) or the bypass pipe o-ring. Both are easy to change if the system is drained.

[DRW1000]

Thanks CDRU,
It just seems like an odd place for the water pump. My next question was going to be about the weep hole but you answered that. There isn't a whole lot spraying just a few drops but it is present. I only noticed drops of coolant on the driveway (It is my wife's van) and I needed to top up the overflow a while ago. I was working on the battery this weekend and I noticed drops of coolant near the pump and rad hose and rad. I thought it could even be the rad but I ruled that out for the time being. The lower hose looks good and I never even knew about the o ring. I will have a look at the "o" ring. I am fairly sure I have a pump leak.

Sounds like an easy enough job.

BTW is the water pump simply an insert that goes into the existing body or is the entire part including the case (housing) I hope this question makes sense.

[cdru]

Originally Posted by DRW1000

BTW is the water pump simply an insert that goes into the existing body or is the entire part including the case (housing) I hope this question makes sense.

It's basically a metal plate that has the impeller pressed onto a shaft. The impeller then fits into a cavity cast into the block. Here is a picture that shows different views of it.

The o-ring I referred to is on the bypass pipe. This pipe is the pipe that runs along the front edge of the engine. It as a small, 7mm bleeder screw on the top of it on the left front corner of the engine. There is a single screw that holds it in. Remove this screw, the nut on the dipstick bracket, and the nut on the throttle body bracket and you should be able to get it up. You'll also probably need to remove the rubber hose located near the bleeder screw.

[DRW1000]

Thanks alot.

One other question. Can the weep hole be seen with the pulley on?

[cdru]

Originally Posted by DRW1000

One other question. Can the weep hole be seen with the pulley on?

Definitely not with the pully on. The pully fits over the hub, minimizing the overall protrusion. At a minimum you will have to yank the pully off. It shouldn't take but a few minutes to get the pully off. Crack the bolts loose first with the belt on to help hold the pully still. Once the pully is off, you may or may not be able to see the weep hole with a mirror. Look for antifreeze residue in the pully though.

[DRW1000]

CDRU
I am still fuzzy as to where the o-ring is. I know it is on the bypass tube but where exactly? Is it between the bypass tube and pump or somewhere else.

I am planning to do the pump this weekend and since I will have the system drained I may as well change this even if it is not the problem and I may only do the o-ring if it is the only problem. I assume it is a dealer only part that should not cost too much (famous last words).

[cdru]

Originally Posted by DRW1000

CDRU
I am still fuzzy as to where the o-ring is. I know it is on the bypass tube but where exactly? Is it between the bypass tube and pump or somewhere else.

I am planning to do the pump this weekend and since I will have the system drained I may as well change this even if it is not the problem and I may only do the o-ring if it is the only problem. I assume it is a dealer only part that should not cost too much (famous last words).

(You'll have to click on the image to get the full version)

The red circle indicates the hole where the o-ring is located at. Sitting in that hole is a pipe that leads across the front of the engine eventually working its way over to the throttle body. Their is also a 3/4" or so rubber hose that bends it way up under the upper intake manifold between the intakes for cylinders 2 and 4 (the left most front cylinders). The bypass pipe sticks down an inch or two into the block, almost into the cavity where the water pump is located. That part that stickes down into the block is where the o-ring is located.

To get the bypass pipe off, you will need to unhook a few things: The bolt holding the bypass pipe to the block, the hose that goes up across the intake manifold, the dip-stick bracket nut, the nut on the throttle body holding the pipe down, and the 2 cooant hoses for the throttle body. That should give you enough play to work the pipe out of the hole.

It's not hard...just will take a little bit of work. If it's not leaking though, it's probably more work then I would do with unhooked the rest of the stuff.

And the o-ring will be a couple of bucks at the dealership. Any major dealer will have them in stock as they get replaced with every intake manifold job.

Sorry my picture doesn't more clearly show where things are at. I didn't have an assembled engine picture handy. If it's still not clear where it's located at, I can take a better one tonight.

[DRW1000]

Thanks CDRU..................I think I see it now.

Looks like you have the engine rotated forward.......lol. What did you attach the ratchet belt to? Were you doing the intake gasket at the time?