Water Pup

Water Pump

1. How Hard is to replace the water pump.
2. What tools are required and how much time does it requires.
3. Where to get a good pump.
4. While at it, can anything else be changed.
5. Mine is a 89 SC manual with 88K miles.

thanks a lot

what's a water pup?

sounds like an outboard motor

Sorry it is Water Pump

i just put one on my 89sc about a month and a half ago. save yourself the trouble and buy yourself a powersteering pump puller/installer. that is the only "special tool" that you will need. other than that have fun ripping into it and if you get stuck dont be affraid to ask.

also do a search for water pumps there is some really good articles out there and take your time.

LOL- was just kidding

I know what you mean't. I haven't changed the water pump on my SC yet, but i will say that it's probably going to be a one day job or a little less.

You will have to remove the belts
remove the water pump pulley (not hard to do)
drain coolant
remove the radiator and fan

You will need a quality 1/4 inch rachet set with various standard and metric sockets (not sure of which socket size though). A medium sized flat head screwdriver to help pry the pump loose if necessary, a scraping tool to get the old gasket material off. Try not to scratch the mating surfaces though. You might want to apply a little rtv high temp gasket sealer on both surfaces when you put the new one on after cleaning the mounting surface on the engine.

while you're in there you can do some easy things like;
Install new belts

harder- replace your thermostat while the coolant is drained- eventually you will have to do this anyway.

the much harder things to do but worth it are;
install a nice performance upgrade like underdrive pulleys (lessens the drag on the motor) and is time consuming (need various sized gear pullers)- also need to remove the upper IC tube to get this done.

thats all i can think of-
I don't know what brand of water pump is best for the SC, some of the other guys here can chime in.

i ordered my pump thru ford. it was only 90 bucks. i didnt think that was to bad.

thanks guys

hey man its the least we can do. you have the tuff part. good luck and dont forget to ask for help if you need anything.

Do yourself a favor and get the Ford OEM part from the dealer. The rebuilds you get at the big stores are questionable at best. I went through 3 in 2 years on my Mustang till I got my head outta my A^% and bought the factior model. No sense in redoing a hard job over if you don't have to. This is all IMHO.

In the engine bay most common sizes are:

8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 13mm, 15mm, and 18mm.

With 10, 13, and 15 seeming to be the most common.

6 point and 12 point standard sockets. 6 point Deep Well sockets.

13, 15, 18 and bigger in 1/2" drive.

3" and 6" extensions.

Plus some good combination wrenches. The "Gear Wrench" brand can come in very handy.

Don't forget the power steering pump pulley puller (say that 5 times as fast as you can). That's the only non-standard tool that you'll need. Places like Autozone will loan it to you; you just pay a refundable deposit to make sure it comes back
Consult your Haynes manual as one or two of the bolts on the water pump goes into the water jacket.. that bolt needs to be wrapped with teflon tape to ensure that you don't have a leak later. If you don't have a manual, then don't drain the coolant right away, then remove each bolt until you find the one that leaks

Hi guys,
thanks for your help.
I got the water pump changed by my mechanic. Not bad, he took 170 for labor.
But I noticed water comming out of the exhaust, like drop by drop.
I took it back to him, and when we noticed there were small bubbles comming out of water in the radiator, he said there might be a small leak in the radiator or/and the head.
He recommended to put radiator stop leak and see if it fixes the problem. The smoke from the exhaust is normal, not white.
The engine heat gauge is reading normal (the heat gauge needle is just a bit to the right of the center of C and H).
Any suggestions please.
thanks

Water coming out of your exhaust? Are you sure it is not just condenstation. does it remain at the constant drip? does it get better or worse after driving. do you notice and performance issues?

check your oil and see if that is watery. if that is then it might be the start of a headgasket problem. as far as the radiator. have your mechanic or a radiator shop do a pressure test on it to see if it leaking. if it is try you can try the stop leak. if that doesnt help then get yourself another radiator.

Bubbles in the radiator.. Not good. You could be seeing the signs of a head gasket failure. There is a kit, or a mechanic should have a kit, which will test for exhaust gas in the coolant. If you have exhaust gas in the coolant, then you're looking at replacing the HGs. Are you mechanically inclined?

I see no performance issues.
He did try to see the exhaust gases in the coolant by opening the radiator cap and when the engine is running, he put the probe to test the smog, just inside the radiator and he covered with a cloth, and then he said it doesn't look bad, just try the radiator stop lead, and we will see.

Power steering pulley??

If you pull off the PSpump pulley does that keep you from having to rip the whole thing apart? how does it come off? I have to change mine.

Follow these instructions.
Heres the instructions: http://www.albeedigital.com/superco...er_pump101.html

If your pump was just changed, those air bubbles could be exactly that. Air bubbles from air bleading out of the cooling system.

If the mechanic didn't bleed the cooling system properly, you could have air trapped in the block and it's working it's way out, creating bubbles.

If the exhaust gas analyzer didn't find any traces when held over the radiator, then it's not going to be a head gasket creating the bubbles.

Dam....
After reading couple of article, that's what I thought. He didn't bleed the system, since the plug to bleed the system was stuck and he was afraid it would break. Because, when he was changing the thermostat, the switch broke.
Unfortunately, today I put in radiator stop leak, hope it doesn't screw up anything else.
thanks for your input

Hi Mike,
Would you suggest to wait for couple of days, and check to see, if there are no bubbles comming from the radiator, they to flush the radiator and put in new coolant without the radiator stop leak or is it ok to leave it there.
thanks