changing water pump '91 19E 2.6

[tdog67]

Fellers,
I am looking at a '91 19E 2.6 and the owner says the water pump needs replaced, is this an easy DIY job? Also AC needs recharged, what is the best way to make sure it is not the compressor or evaporator? How can i check to make sure the heads are ok since the car overheats a little when driving he says. Any input appreciated?

thanks

tdog

[ozzy]

I am looking at a '91 19E 2.6 and the owner says the water pump needs replaced, is this an easy DIY job?

Water pump is fairly time consuming, takes about 3 hours in shop, If you have limited tools and knowledge its probably best done at dealership.

Also AC needs recharged, what is the best way to make sure it is not the compressor or evaporator?

You need to look for leaks, look for wet/oily stains around all hose connections and over condensor, this particular model was prone to evaporator leaks, which can be hard to diagnose, if the system has had dye in refridgerent this can assist in finding leaks.

How can i check to make sure the heads are ok since the car overheats a little when driving he says.

If it is overheating check the engine fan, you can easily check this by bringing eng up to operating temp and then turn eng off, spin the fan by hand it should be hard to spin, if it spins freely the viscous hub will need replacing. You can also check the hub face, If it is wet/oily it has lost its fluid.

[pete911]

I am in the middle of a water pump change on my 190. It is fairly involved. I think it takes at least 6 hours. There is very little room to work due to the length of the six cylinder engine.

Pete

[jstadter]

I agree with Pete - I'm also in the middle of this job on my '89 190E 2.6 and it's been one of the most involved jobs I've had to do on this car. Before I started, a fellow lister gave me these five steps:
1: Remove clutch fan
2: Remove rad
3: Remove belt tensioner
4: Remove water pump
5: Reassemble.

There is a lot of detail work involved to accomplish each of the steps (e.g. removing fan pulley, water pump pulley, and power steering pulley.) 13mm flex sockets and extensions in both 1/4" and 3/8" drives are necessities for reaching some of the water pump bolts. Sixto's site has M103 pics that were a great reference: http://photos.yahoo.com/tabijan

Parts you'll probably want to replace while you're in there are:
- drive belt
- tensioner if your's is on the way out (test by seeing whether the indicator moves as you remove tension)
- water pump->cylinder head hose

Overall, the job is just very long and tedious.

[pete911]

OK I just finished the job. I didn't remove the radiator so I had to be careful, but it all worked out. Took me about seven hours split over two days. I replaced the water pump along with the tensioner and tensioner shock. I also put new radiator hoses on. It helps to have small hands to do this job (I don't).

Pete

[Jim Anderson]

I just did that twice, the first replacement pump failed in about a month. The good news was the pump was guaranteed, the bad news my labor wasn't

[Jeff Hartmann]

TDOG67,

I found it easier to first remove the front bumper...6bolts I think, careful of the temperature sensor behind the license plate. Gives you more room to work.
I agree with all belts and hoses also check the idler pulley front center of engine. Mine fell apart at about 130,000 miles.

I'm sure a search will yield many tales.