94 Cherokee water pump - what the repair book DOESN'T say...

Well, after checking the Forums this past week, and Archives, and reading the repair book, figured I was ready to replace my '94 Cherokee Sport water pump myself finally. Little did I know how frustrating it was going to be...
Started Thursday night on the 4.0, got the electric fan out ok, took the belt loose via the stubborn p/s pump...then remembered should have left it ON to loosen the pulley bolts. Doh! Had to jam a screwdriver between two of the pulley bolts to hold it, got them started out one by one, ok, it's off. Sweating now. Started to loosen the thermostat housing, as the top bolt broke loose my hand slipped, gouged my hand above the index knuckle on the sensor wire clip on the housing...*#! Left it alone, and looked at the P/S pump bracket, bolted to the pump - not really mentioned much bout that in the Haynes book, started to take it off, got 3 bolts out, wouldn't budge...took 3 of the 4 bolts holding the P/S pump to the bracket loose or off, then managed to break the High Pressure gas line fitting to the manifold loosening the rear bolts - Doh x 2 ! *#! Ok, forget that for now, still couldn't move the dang bracket still...gave up until Saturday morning. Too dark.
Saturday, get out there again on the job at noon, finally move the p/s pump around and see there's a FOURTH bolt behind the p/s pump, holding the bracket to the intake manifold in a second spot. More #!~*. Finally get that removed with a wobble socket, movin' on. Push the whole p/s assembly off to the side. Both of the lower radiator hose clamps, the dang factory clip-on style, are too big for any pliers I have, and are of COURSE turned around the worst possible way to grab them. Add to purchase list " buy big Channel lock pliers". Decided to remove all the water pump bolts, and get the clip off after I pull the pump up. Need to finally remove the thermostat housing to do that, go to take the bolts out, hit my hand AGAIN on the damned sensor wire clip on the housing....double @#!. Same spot on the back of my hand, bloody gouge 1/4 inch across. I'm really gettin' steamed over this water pump job now. Who designed all this , the Chrysler engineers?! Next time, remember to remove wire from sensor before loosening bolts. Have to remove thermostat housing to get that L-pipe running to the heater core ,out the top of the water pump, the pump wouldn't come out with it ( thermostat housing ) installed, if you're curious. FINALLY get to the pump, remove the 4 bolts, and break it loose enough to remove, with the hoses attached. Take the top one off, able to get to the bottom clamp enough to get bottom hose loose - free! Ye-haw, time to make a trip to the parts store(s)...yeah, two, found the first didnt' have the thermostat housing gasket, special order for Pep Boys, had both at Car Quest. Got some parts at Pep boys, the rest ( including the dreaded broken hi-pressure gas hose, $15+ at CarQuest, but they had it, fitting and all ... whew! ). Go back home, start the gasket surface cleaning and prep for reassembly. Get it all cleaned up, got it mostly reassembled by 8 pm ( cut out alot of details here, it went fairly smoothly ). One thing I replaced was that L-tube to the heater core, it was rusting and pitted on the outside near the pump, figured it'd weaken and burst later ( via archives ), so had gotten a 3" long 5/8" fitting for the hose. Guess where the hose clamp ended up? BEHIND the tension pulley. JUST fits behind it, no way to adjust it or get to it once the pulley is bolted back on ( once I got to that point, anyway ). Screw it, it's done, hope it doesn't leak, but I can take the belt loose to get to it if I need to. NO one had a 4" or 5" long nipple to raise it high enough, which I suspected, oh well. Didn't think the shorter ones would work, either.
Ok, got most of the plumbing reattached before dinner, all's left is the heater core hose, the electric fan, tension the serpentine belt, and add green stuff. And, oh yeah, the broken gas line. Sunday job. Whew! This turned out to be more work than I expected. The pump did have the leak at the rear weep hole on the back side ( can't see it, of course,while in the Jeep), so that is good to know I didn't waste my entire day on a part that wasn't broken. Hopefully the job will finish up quickly now, and I can get my old reliable Jeep Cherokee Sport back on the road, instead of my 10 MPG '72 Bel Air or '85 Moby Dick white Chevy van. Whew! Been spending a few hundred a week on gas with those two! Yikes.
So, the bottom line of things I learned is :
- remove the thermostat housing sensor wires FIRST before loosening bolts
- remove the high pressure gas line hoses FIRST before loosening P/S bolts.
- you need BOTH SAE and Metric wrenches, they used BOTH on my Jeep, I was cussin' having to jump back and forth between them. WHY didn't they settle on just one type? Some things were 1/2 inch, some 13MM, some 14MM, one 15mm, some 9/16. At least it seemed that way, some things the 14mm wouldn't fit, the 9/16 did, go figure.
So, hope this helps someone about to try the same procedure, it sure was a trying experience for me. I'm sure I've saved a bunch of money ( not switching to Geico, replacing the pump myself ), but it sure turned out to be more involved than I thought. Glad I had 2 days and then some to get this Jeep worked on. I can't afford to pay a mechanic to do it right now. Cost so far, for materials, has been about $150 ( $40 for pump, $20 for gas line, $15 each for upper/lower rad hoses , $4 nipple, $20 for new anti-freeze, misc. $ for clamps, cleaners, tools, etc. ) But at least the jeep won't be smelling like antifreeze anymore, I've been smelling it, hadn't seen any puddles until 2 weeks ago, when it let go on a Thursday night heading home from work. I managed to get it home safely, leaking but with spare water in a container.
Anyway, that was my XJ water pump adventure ( still continuing, but almost over now ). Hope my little adventure helps someone else with their replacement. Time to sit back and relax....oh, DAMN, the cats are out of food again! !~* time for another trip to the grocery store...grumble. Bye,
Jerry in Virginia

aww comeon man!

i have a 93, no mechanic experience and was able to do that job in under an hour! including re-using the brass tube on the new h2o pump!

when you go home from work, do you tahe the "scenic" way too?



just joking, some things on an xj really should be done without reading the manual.

its just easier that way. just use the torque / measurement specs.

sure it took 2 days but a lot cheaper than a mechanic.

WELCOME, to the wonderful world of auto repair. It Will get better with experience. Trust me.

cliff notes?

instructions are good.. of course I had to learn that the hard way.

I changed a water pump on a 79 cherokee. After I finished, my knuckles were crimson red from scrapping against the radiator. Went back to the instructions and found out that taking out the radiator makes the job much easier. Duo..

I got kind of confused. What do you need to know thats not in the manual

if you think this one is tough you should try a wp replacement on a front wheel drive car. now that is a hair puller. this is one of the reasons i like xj's! easy to get to a majority of the components. (and parts are plentiful)

i am not the best shade tree mechanic but it took me around 4 hours for a water pump on my xj.

x99j said:

if you think this one is tough you should try a wp replacement on a front wheel drive car. now that is a hair puller. this is one of the reasons i like xj's! easy to get to a majority of the components. (and parts are plentiful)

i am not the best shade tree mechanic but it took me around 4 hours for a water pump on my xj.

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got to love thosw FWD cars. my wife had an acura lengend, 89. it was the biggest pain. that water pump was under the motor, pass. side and behind the wheel. stupid place for o-rings to go bad.

Had to replace the driver's halfshaft on a 89 Sentra once. Irritating - had to bend a screwdriver to make a "special" tool, and you couldn't pull the LH halfshaft, you had to remove the RH halfshaft and push it out.

I just ended up replacing both. I mean, it only added 5 minutes to the work I had to do, and it wasn't my car (therefore, not my money.)

Who designs this crap? I honestly think that one should be a mech for 5 years before being an engineer, and get the damn accountants and lawyers OUT of engineering decisions!

5-90

my favorite so far is the water pump on a 95 eclipse.

remove tire, unbolt engine, jack engine up undo timing cover bolts, lower engine undo more timing cover bolts, jack engine up and down to wiggle out timing cover, remove timing belt, lower engine unbolt some water pump bolts, raise engine unbolt some more water pump bolts, raise and lower the engine as necessary to remove pump. then reverse the process. I am an experienced wrench and it took over 12 hours.

Holy Moses. Congrats. The XJ gods are kinder to dog owners, you know.

goodburbon said:

my favorite so far is the water pump on a 95 eclipse.

remove tire, unbolt engine, jack engine up undo timing cover bolts, lower engine undo more timing cover bolts, jack engine up and down to wiggle out timing cover, remove timing belt, lower engine unbolt some water pump bolts, raise engine unbolt some more water pump bolts, raise and lower the engine as necessary to remove pump. then reverse the process. I am an experienced wrench and it took over 12 hours.

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same wth a ford escort.
I found it curious that I had to drop a motor mount to replace a timing belt.
And getting the belt tensioner, that's part of the water pump assembly, so you can put the new timing belt on is just a "special" process.

badron said:

WELCOME, to the wonderful world of auto repair. It Will get better with experience. Trust me.

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Lying bastard!

Essential equipment to make wrenching on the Jeep less painful:

1. Thick gloves. To prevent scraped knuckles on sharp edges and the cussing that goes with it.
2. Tube of KY Jelly. Essential when visiting the stealership parts counter (you know what I mean ).
3. Pizza and beers. Some jobs take a long time so you need some sustenance.
4. A good-looking blonde to give you a Swedish massage after you've finished the job with acheing muscles and joints.
5. A well-lit heated garage doesn't hurt either but most of us have to make do with working outside either in freezing cold, in the rain, or in sweltering heat (that's me), so prepare your camping equipment and plan accordingly.