Hey everyone,

I've been trying to track down a squeal that my engine is making and have been replacing parts in an effort to do so. Well I replaced the water pump the other day and while it didn't cure the awful noise I did manage to take some pictures of the process.

It's fairly straightforward and should only take an hour or so to do, but I haven't seen any DIY's on here so I thought I would make one.



Start by loosening the alternator belt that runs to the pulley. You don't have to remove it yet, as long as it is loose. Then remove the bolts that hold the fan on to the pulley. I have two removed here, but there are four total. You should be able to slide the fan off after taking off three bolts and loosening the fourth.



Disconnect the fan shroud so that not only will you be able to remove the fan, but also so that you have more room to work with.



Tada!



See how much space you have now?



Remove the belt and the pulley from the water pump. I have the larger alternator on Norm (AL129x I believe) so it was easier for me to remove the pulley with the belt still on, just loosened, then it would be to remove the belt first.



Give this thing a good cleaning before you put it back on!



Next up is to drain the coolant from the radiator. Try to do this on a level surface or point the nose of the car down. I didn't and it resulted in more coolant coming out of the water pump when I went to disconnect it.



Before removing the water pump, remove the crossover tube that runs out of the block. It's hard to get a picture of it on the engine, but this is what it looks like.



It bolts in to here...



...and here.



Remove the five bolts that hold the water pump on and hit it with a mallet to knock it free from the housing.

WARNING:

The bolts that hold the pump on are most likely deformed and need to be replaced!!! I made the mistake of not checking this and sheared a bolt when trying to put the new pump on!!!

The thread pitch is 6.1 and you can find these bolts at ACE Hardware for .27 cents each. Do yourself a favor and get new bolts!!!



Once the pump is out, remove as much of the old gasket as possible from the housing. I used sandpaper to remove it, and it came off easily. Failure to do so will result in coolant leaks from the new gasket not sealing properly.



Much better!



Old pump vs. new pump. I bought a Laso brand pump, and it is an identical match to the original pump. It's made in Germany, and while slightly more expensive then other pumps, I feel it's totally worth it to have a quality part!



Place the gasket on the pump. The gasket can only fit on one way due to the holes in the pump.



Mount the new pump on with your NEW bolts! I can't stress enough how necessary new bolts are! I torqued all five bolts down to 8 ft/lbs.



Once the pump has been mounted reconnect the crossover tube.



Replace the belt and pulley on to the pump. I found that it helps to have one bolt threaded in to place before placing the fan shroud back in. This makes it easy to line up the pulley and water pump, but also give you somewhere to put the fan on to.



Put the fan shroud back in to place, but do not connect it in to place until the fan has been put back in! It give you a little more wiggle room to mess with.



Replace the fan, refill with coolant, and you are done!!

Some say that removing the radiator is necessary to do this job, and really it isn't. I had to do it in order to get my easy-out in to the broken bolt, and while it does give you a lot of room you don't need it to get the pump out.

I hope this helps make the job easier for others to understand!