244,000

Symptoms: wet spot on drivway - passenger's side, not water, not oil, not tranny fluid; really jumpy temp gauge; low coolant level in expansion tank; squeal noise from front of engine

Removed shroud, fan, clutch; drained g-05 from radiator and engine block. Blew into expansion tank to expedite draining (not cool looking)

There are 7 10mm bolts holding water pump. One bolt is behind a plastic drain pipe that fits on a nipple coming from the pump housing. I broke off the plastic pipe in order to get to the bolt. The new pipe is $10 at the dealer and not worth the trouble to replace. There is NO way to remove or replace the bottom bolt correctly with the pipe in place. It drains leaking coolant to where you can't see it until its pooled on the driveway. It would have been easy to see leaking coolant just below the water pump. My advice is to not replace this p.o.s. pipe. Spend the $10 on beer or fuel.

New pump, expansion tank, and cap was around $220 from the dealer. (I already had a new coolant level sensor on hand, but they're like $20-$30) Old tank showed signs of leaking and old level sensor was corroded with one prong rotted off.

Thoroughly cleaned old pump mating surface with razor blade and solvent. Degreased area around pump (with small paint brush and the best engine degreaser - gasoline). Needed to unbolt the dipstick tube from the head for clearance. Replaced pump and tightened bolts to 10nm in star pattern.

Removed upper hose from radiator and added coolant to the block until it filled. Then I filled radiator. Then I poured a bunch into the expansion tank.

Started it up and watched everything very closely. No leaks! Reached normal operating temp and took it for a spin. All seems fine. No jumpy gauge. Weather is cool here today so it ran cooler than last week. I guess I'll wait to see when the hot weather returns.

Took around 5 hours.

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