How hard is it to replace a water pump?

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Deviate

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How hard is it to replace the water pump? I had the water pump go out a year and a half...maybe 2 years ago. Had a mechanic replace it for me because I didn't want to deal with it. Well, I have coolant dripping on my driveway again and I can see where it appears to be coming out of the weep holes on the water pump. *sigh*

Looking through my Haynes manual it doesn't seem too terribly bad. I suppose I would do a coolant flush at the same time and check the belt real good. Just wondering how much time I need to allocate myself or if I should just take it back to the mechanic again. He gave me a great deal on it last time. Maybe that's why it's gone out again already. :whymewhyme:
 

wermbang

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Sorry for the no response. Hopefully someone will come along that can help ya, as this is out of my league a little. For me I would give myself about 8 hours just to be safe lol
 

BlackedOutHemi

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I could've sworn somebody on here had done it before.

Someone will chime in.


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nim81

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on a 5.9L i could do it in about 2 hours i guess, its been a while, done it 2 or 3 times. nothing hard about it really. if you have the tools and general know how it should be a breeze. if its your first time doing it i would allocate extra time for any problems i ran into
 

OlDirtyJohn

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i took the water pump out, rebuilt, and replaced in a friends gto with the ls1 in roughly 2 hours. and it was a tight squeeze to get in there, id imagine it wouldn't be too hard in a truck.
 
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nim81

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i took the water pump out, rebuilt, and replaced in a friends gto with the ls1 in roughly 2 hours. and it was a tight squeeze to get in there, id imagine it would be too hard in a truck.

you mean not too hard? :D
 

KGBIGCOUNTRY

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I cant say about the 4.7 to be honest with you bud, the 5.7 takes about an hour and a half. From what I remember think the 4.7 is lower on the motor and might be alill bit more of a reach. You can pull the cross front member out along with the rad to allow alot more room and make it easier on yourself. This will give you an idea the Rad was not pulled yet but it will allow you to step through the front of the truck to work. The rad support and everything should be about the same and just a few bolts.
IMG_1086.jpg
 
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Deviate

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Sweet. Thanks for that guys.

One other question, is there any reason why I should buy a new water pump over a remanufactured one? There is about a $15 difference between them and it looks like they both have a limited lifetime warranty.
 

nim81

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if they both have the same warranty i would save the $15
a reman has to pass the same tests a new unit would
 

txbass06

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^^ this. Plus, you don't have to worry about possible fitment issues since this is a remanufactured OEM part


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tmerritt530

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Simple bolt on deal. Let the fan shroud loose and take the fan off then drain replace refill.
 
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Deviate

Deviate

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Well, I feel like less of a man now. The leak got worse so I figured it was time to get this water pump changed out. But there was absolutely no getting the fan off. It's like it was grown on there. I went to Advance Auto and rented their fan wrench set. But they don't have the special spanner wrench deal to hold the pulley still. We tried jamming anything we could in there, but no luck. I tried to rig something that I could use to hold it...no luck.

So it looks like I will be taking it to the only shop that has ever done any work on my truck this morning. If I could have gotten the fan off I would have been good to go. If I didn't need to get the truck back in good working order right away, I would just let it sit there, order an e-fan and all and take the old water pump off and leave the fan on it.
 

nim81

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i always use a pair of vicegrips and clamp the pully down real good from the side, works real good but those fans can be a booger!
 
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Deviate

Deviate

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I got the new (remanufactured) water pump put on yesterday. I was so happy to finally have my truck in one piece again. Driving home tonight as I got off the interstate I stepped on it to get merged over and I hear a growling sound...kinda bad. Then the truck is running rough and I hear a whine. I pull into a gas station and the engine dies. I get out just in time to watch all of the coolant pour out on the ground. The water pump took a crap!!!

I had to call my father in law to tow me home with his Chevy Trailblazer.

FML
 
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Deviate

Deviate

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At least I feel better about myself now. I replaced the water pump myself this time. Bryan...thank you so much for mentioning the vice grip deal. That worked so well!

So I replaced the reman'd pump with a new one. Cost me $16 more but I just feel better about it. Gotta give Napa some credit too, the guy gave me a gallon of coolant free to replace what I lost. Now if I can just keep anything else from happening to the old girl.
 

KGBIGCOUNTRY

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Damn man lucky you caught it in a fairly safe place. That could have been bad going down the interstate at 70 and have coolent dump on your tires.
 

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