So I am going to replace my water pump housing because of a broken bolt around the water pump. It looks pretty straight forward. I have the workshop manual that kind of walks you through it. You remove the longer bolts, remove the valve cover gasket, and disconnect the coolant hoses attached to it. Basically my question is, it looks like it has a shaft with some gears on the end of it that fit into the end of the camshaft to spin the belt wheel. I'm wondering does it just fit in there? The manual doesn't mention anything tricky about removing that pulley wheel shaft from the cam. It looks like it's just gears that would fit into the end of the camshaft. The project looks pretty straight forward, but I'm just stressing out on it. I really want to fix my car so I don't have to constantly be adding coolant or clearing check engine lights (fixed that problem though at least with the new thermostat).

 

I read through it on JTIS and it pretty much just says take it out. So I can't see where to EXPECT any problems. I will say that when I did the engine swap, there were some things that I think would have made life easier if JTIS had been more specific about what to do. But it was never anything major.

 

True... Well I got my pump housing delivered today. Looks good actually. One complaint is the tension wheel is a little chewed up. Not a problem though, I will just reuse the one I have since it's in good shape. Everything looks to be in good shape. The main wheel spins good. The water pump is an aftermarket brand, so I hope it is still in usable condition. The listing said it was in good condition so I am hoping.

I see where my problem was last week trying to remove the housing. There is a bolt that goes in the top of the housing downward, probably one of the valve cover bolts, and that was holding it in place. The JTIS didn't specifically mention this bolt holding it in but they did say to remove the valve cover. Beside that, it looks pretty straight forward... It was just that one last bolt I didn't know was there holding the housing in place. So it is just a matter of removing the valve cover, undoing the hoses to the housing, reinstalling everything, and sealing everything well.

I was thinking of putting some RTV around the edge of the water pump itself. I don't want to open it up and break the gasket it has, but I was thinking if I sealed the edges with black RTV, that might just prevent any little leaks around the edge.

Anyways, talking it all up makes it seem like a harder job than it really is. I just have to get it done and be done with it. I am actually feeling really good now that I have the replacement housing in hand. Saved a lot of money getting the used housing over a new one and now that I have the part it doesn't seem as mysterious and monumental.

 

if you don't separate the pump from housing you'll be fine. A bead of sealant around the edge will do nothing to keep it from leaking. So don't bother. sealant has to be in contact with the mating surfaces (between them) or leaking fluid will just ooze it out of the way.

 

Ok good to know. Was thinking earlier, maybe I should open it up and reseal the water pump with fresh rtv sealant? It will probably be fine though.

 

Well, I tackled the water pump housing install today. Got the used one in the mail Thursday. The pulley wheels were in rough condition but rest looked pretty good so I reused the pulley wheels off my old housing. Getting the valve cover off was a pretty big project in itself. Once that was off, the rest wasn't too bad. Had to undo the thermostat bolts, a pain in the neck, but I'm getting good at it now. Nothing too complicated about getting the housing out and in. Space is a little tight on one of the bolts so I had to loosen up everything else to clear enough room to remove one of the hoses. Put it all back together by the evening, and started 'er up and no leaks. Took it for a little drive and it's seemed to be all working. No leaks when I got back either. Looks like I fixed the problem. Will have to drive it around some tomorrow and keep an eye on it but I think I got it! Lot of work but saved $200 by not taking it to the shop and bought the pump used so all and all, I did alright.

One darn thing though as I was putting the coils back in, one of the bolts wouldn't tighten up and the coil was loose. Turns out there is a small crack around the threads on the valve cover on that coil bolt. I ran into this problem when I changed my spark plugs but kind of forgot about it and have been driving it like that. Didn't see the crack then, just thought the threads were stripped out. Anyway, I put some jb weld on the crack and some steel wool in the threads to give the bolt something to grip to and it seemed to tighten up the coil enough. May need some kind of thread repair glue or a new valve cover. It's not a major bolt but it does hold the coil in place. I'm sure there's a way to fix it without having to buy a new valve cover.

 

I'd have put JB down hole and put the bolt back in. That bolt just keeps the coil from wriggling off the spark plug. You should be good unless the crack propagates further. That's a really low torque value on those coil bolts. Something like 30 inch-pounds. Barely snug.

 

Ok, I thought about that too but I wasn't sure if that would ruin the threads next time the coil is removed. I think my trick with the steel wool did the job. Just enough to hold the coil in place firmly. Before it was too loose and just barely sitting on the valve cover. I think it was drivable like that but definitely not ideal. This way seems better, it's more snug. May involve a little more JB Weld in the future. I think if I welded around the top of the crack and a little into the threads it would be perfect, but today I was in a rush just to get the engine back together to test the new water pump.

 

Nice work, glad you got it sorted!

 

Yea I am still amazed that it all worked. Bought myself a pair of nice Mechanix gloves today in celebration (they were on sale). Now I will look cool when I check the oil Took it for a drive around and enjoyed my car again. Hopefully won't have to use the gloves for a while unless I do the sway bar stuff.