Water pump

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....

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....

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.........

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 (http://www.partsamerica.com/product_images/img/A1C/58323.jpg) 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.

Thanks alot.

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

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.

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
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).
http://img133.echo.cx/img133/9205/location7wt.th.jpg (http://img133.echo.cx/my.php?image=location7wt.jpg)
(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.

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?

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?Yup. The engine was rolled forward to get easier access to the rear half of the engine. I took that picture just before I took off the front head. You can see that the rear head is already off (look for the 3 piston circles in the back). My next step was to remove that strap and take off the front head as when you do one, you do the other.

When I rotate my engine forward, I use the mount on the engine for that purpose, then either hook it to the framing member that the mounts get bolted to, or through the hole that the hood latches into. I have two different straps, one with a hook and one without. The one with the hook is the easier to use since I don't have to make a complete loop, but which ever one I find first is the one I use.

Here is another photo of where the hole is, looking straight down on the engine. The hole the o-ring will be at is in the lower left corner, just above the bolt you see, between the two wires.
http://img211.echo.cx/img211/7577/dscf26283mc.th.jpg (http://img211.echo.cx/my.php?image=dscf26283mc.jpg)
(side note: that's actually the same head as in the other picture, just cleaned up. I thought it was amazing how much crud and varnish had built up on it.)

Well thank you very much for all of your help. I think my water pump job will go relatively smoothly.

Thanks again.

I bought the pump today. I went to an aftermarket supply shop. I looked at a rebuilt from Fel-pro and a new one with a lifetime warranty. I actually went with the new simply because the mating surface was machined smooth and the rebuilt had the casting texture.

I bought some permaflex sealant for the gasket but was wondering if I need it or if I should use something else. I have never used sealant on gaskets before including water pump and thermostats unless I wanted to "glue" it place for assembly ease.

I also bought some de-ionized water. I have always used tap water and I know that there are minerals in tap water. In fact someone once tried to tell I should look at the scale that forms inside a pipe. My thinking was that the only minerals from the tap water would be what was in the original 2 gallons. (There is not a constant flow of new water as in a pipe so that analogy is flawed imo).

Do the bolts need to have a sealant applid to the threads?

That's all I can think of for now.

Thanks

A bead of RTV I beleive is all that is called for in place of an actual seperate gasket. I can check my Haynes manual if you don't have one later. The coolant system isn't under high pressure so doesn't take much to seal the surface.

Using deionized isn't absolutely necessary, but isn't going to hurt. If you have "city" water, mineral content probably isn't going to be high enough to cause any problems. If you have hard or well water, then using deionized water is probably recommended.

The bolts don't require any type of lock tite or other sealant, although a low or medium locker isn't going to hurt if you are paranoid.

Thanks CDRU. Sorry for asking so much. I actually have a gasket. It came with it but the instructions mention someting about dressing the gasket which is something I have never done in the past.

You are correct on the gasket. I read my manual and there is one. I just had forgotten about it. Dressing the gasket is just spreading a thin layer of RTV on both sides to help it stick and fill in any slight imperfections between the two surfaces. So just put a few dots of rtv around the gasket and spread it around with your finger on both sides to coat everything evenly. Then quickly install it while it is still wet/tacky.

I knew I would come up with 1 more.

It looks like the pump can be oriented in any direction. Should the weep hole be at the top or bottom???

Bottom.

Well I did the water pump today. It was relatively easy. I wasn't really sure if it was leaking through the weep hole but the bearing was making a noise. It almost looked like it was leaking around the gasket.

In any event I replaced it. I want to thanks those who offered answers especially CDRU.

If I can add any words of wisdom for the next person:

The water pump mounting holes are not evenly spaced. It looks like they are and I didn't find out until I had the gasket coated with sealant (and on the wrong side of course). But all went well just a bit messier than I had hoped.

The water pump mounting holes are not evenly spaced. It looks like they are and I didn't find out until I had the gasket coated with sealant (and on the wrong side of course).I wondered about that when you asked if the weep hole when up or down. I had thought that the mounting holes were slightly off so that it really could only fit on there one way. I wasn't sure though and I couldn't tell from the picture of the water pump I found, so I didn't speak up. Oh well. Glad things went well.

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?

I have the same problem as you did. Coolant droplets just fly around the pulley, radiator hose, and radiator. Can you tell me how you fixed your problem?