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88 GL Water Pump, seems easy.. But How?


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Hi, i'm trying to fix a water leak from around the water pump, and I cant seem to get the water pump off easily. Reading in the book, it just says to pull the bolts and pull it off. However, thier is the plastic timing cover over atleast 1 of the bolts (most likely 2). I cant get to them unless i pull the plastic off, and then, i cant get that off untill i pull the pulley. So here's my questions

 

1. Is thier any easy way to do this? other than pulling all that stuff off?

2. which way do i turn the nut on the pully to take it off?

3. How do i get it off without the spinning the entire engine?

4. Is thier any special way to remove it that i should know about it? install it a certain way?

 

Any other info on it would be great, as i have to have it running by tonight, or i loose a job. Thanks

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  1. Shouldn't need to pull off the center plastic cover. Might need to pull off the dirvers side cover; mine's already off so I dunno for sure. That can be removed w/o pulling the center crank pulley.
  2. Nuts holding pulley to pump work the same; lefty loosey and righty tighty
  3. I've taken a shop rag and a big screw driver; wedged it down there between the water pump pulley and crank pulley; wedge whatever you got in there. Also you can leave the belt on and pinch it so its another frictional force against the pulley turning. There is a certain finese` with wrenches. Put the wrench straight up (12 o'clock) and focus the force downward more than outward/leftward... if that makes sense. Another trick ist ot put the wrench straight up and tap it with a hammer; poor man's impact wrench. Note when putting this back on how much of a PITA it was to get off; doesnt need to be super tight :) Let the lockwashers do the hard work.
  4. Only other thing thats gonna be a little tough is the inlet tube coming from the radiator to the water pump. Unbolt it from the cylinder head there under the alternator. Should be enough flex in the radiator hose to allow you to wiggle and pull it out of the pump. It's just a tight fit at the pump; no clamp or pinch bolts.

It's a good idea to replace all hoses at this time. Top and bottom radiator hose. 90degree bend hose there on top of the water pump. Little eblow hose behind the throttle body. And if you can that little one from the block to the intake manifold there behind your power steering pump. Dont want to put on a new water pump just to blow a hose next week!

 

Good luck!

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  1. Shouldn't need to pull off the center plastic cover. Might need to pull off the dirvers side cover; mine's already off so I dunno for sure. That can be removed w/o pulling the center crank pulley.

 

 

shouldn't.. that's what i thought, but as soon as i took the drivers side cover off, i saw where the bolt on the water pump was, i can kinda get a wrench on it, and slowly turn it. In theory, i could get it out, however, putting it back in would be a big hassle. It's just too far in and close to the belt to do it realisticaly without removing the middle plastic. I'm going to go bust it out right now. Thanks for the help guys...

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bust it all off and do away with it. or at least tkae off the plastic and leave it off. cause invitabley you will have to do timing belts and engine seals. it will save you HOURS of work to do these repais witht eh absence ov covers. no reliability issues. a 3 hour timing belt job can be done with 2 sockets and 10 minutes without the covers

 

i serviced a car and seen that corner pf the cover that overlaps the water pump was broken off by someone else. no harm in doing so. i suggest taking all of them off, do the timing belts while you are there, and remove the inner plastics as well

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