Replacing the water pump.

Do I really have to remove the fans, radiatior, and front facia just to replace the water pump ? That's how it looks.

Fans? Helpful b/c it creates more room.

Radiator? I didn't.

Front fascia? Certainly not.

How long did it take you with just removing the fans ?

First time I did it I took the rad out b/c I replaced it and almost everything else in the system. Second time I did it I just had the gasket on the pump leaking. I took out the electric fan, removed the belt, moved the power steering pump outta the way, drained the system, took off the crank pulley and pump pulley and then the pump. Didn't time it and really wasn't in a huge hurry. I don't know...3 hours?

camarors8992 said:

How long did it take you with just removing the fans ?

Click to expand...

I tried it removing as little as possible a few times. Decided it just wasn't worth the aggrivation and cuts.
I remove the air box (depending on the year XJ, this is a big plus in itself, it helps with the belt adjustment), the tranny cooler lines, remove the bottom hose clamps and drain the system by the radiator hose at the water pump. Unscrew the shroud and remove the electric fan. Take out the top radiator cross brace, disconnect the top hose from the raditor. Put a piece of cardboard over the inside of the radiator (as protection) and pull the radiator out.
I've had my radiator out a bunch of times and all the bolts involved got a coat of grease, before reassembly. I can have it out of there pretty quick. The hardest part was the A/C condensor top brace/mount screws, they can be a pain, the first time.
Without the radiator in there, everything else is a snap. Sure seems to make the other stuff you have to pull to get the water pump off easier and cleaning the old gasket off and reassembly a lot easier. Less chance of damaging the radiator while your wrenching.
Just my preferance, but the time it takes me to remove the radiator, I save on removing the other stuff. With a whole bunch more room and a better view of what goes where.
If you don't take the radiator out, a piece of cardboard cut to fit over the inside of the radiator, could save a catastrophy and is likely worth the effort. The radiator fins bend and flatten really easy.

A picture for the text above.

Do you think I could get away with just replacing the water pump now and replacing the thermostat sometime next week after a coolant flush ? Thanks for the details, it will help me out alot tommorrow!

I see absolutely no reason to go that far and not do the t stat. Why would you?

To me it would be like draining the motor oil and not doing the filter.

Didn't take the radiator out. Dit take out the electric fan. Plenty of room like that. I agree that when you do the pump doing the tstat is almost no extra work. Doing that later seems inefficient. Just my 2 cents, good luck!

If you are going to do the pump, thats one of the few times I would use the 15 minute blasting type of flush. Usually those 15 min flushes cause seal and bearing failure in the pumps when I have used them in the past but with a new pump going on I'd flush it now. Might even use vinegar as some here have suggested instead of the flush in a bottle. Preference for me is the 7 hour type of flush, it's more chemical than cleaner and seems to break down the stuff thats in there..
I'd also do ALL the hoses, tstat, belt and replace the idler pulleys. My other personal preference is Dealer/OEM hoses and tstat, couple of bucks more but they fit and have the covers, spring and the heater core hoses already have the new clamps on them.
Note: When removing the heater core hoses from the heater core, do not pull them or twist them, remove the clamp and slice the hose, then peel it off. You do not want to break one of those bungs. I'm not sure of your year but on my 98 I screwed up two water pump gaskets by not moving the power steering bracket out of the way, I figured if I could get the pump off with it just loose I could get it back on, wrong. I finally undid the bolt alonside the block and moved it about 3 inches away, dried the area out with towels in the block and used indian head gasket cememt on the gasket, this after two times of trying to 'save time and effort' from that stupid bracket.

Remove and clean your overflow tank too, the crud that collects in there is nasty, either a bottle brush or a sock on a stick with some fantastic or 409 will clean it out.