How do you change the water pump on a 88 acura legend i understand it is powered by the timing belt how do i get in there though its a tight fit. can i somehow go through the wheel well or .......?

Answer 1

Two weeks ago I changed out the water pump on my 1989 Acura Legend Coupe LS.

You will need to remove the Negative battery cable form battery, remove the plastic covers for the alternator belt, put the car on jackstands, put a wooden block on your floor jack to support the engine under the oil pan. Loosen and remove thge right hand side motor mount, using a 10 mm socket, ratchet, and long extension remove the bolts securing the cruse control to right side fenderwall. Remove plastic under the bumber pan and right side inner fenderwell cover. Unplug alternator wiring and remove cable, remove alternator, loosen and remove A/C compressor belt. Remove radiator recovery tank in that area. Remove bolts securing power steering pump, you should reposition the pump as needed to access what you need to get at, with the hoses still connected. Using a minimum of a good 1/2" drive inpact wrench and six point impact socket remove the crankshaft damper bolt. Do not remember the socket size, but think it was 19mm. At this point you will need to remove three flat metal covers from the right camshaft, left camshaft and one lower one between these two. DO NOT REMOVE THE TIMING BELT TENSIONER Bolt. It looks like a six sided shaft protruding thru the lower middle cover, this will need to be loosened once the timing marks are right, but that is later on. You will need to slightly raise the engine and lower it, using the floor jack, as need to get to the 10mm head bolts. As there are a lot of them, get put in plastic bags, sorted by cover. BE VERY CAREFUL.L NOT TO DAMAGE your oil pan, it is aluminum. .There are odles of 10mm bolts, get ready for some skinned hands. Take your time and use a small mirror to locate them all. You will need to remove the oil dipstick and it's tube that goes into the engine block, single samll bolt and it pulls out. Plug the opening so nothing gets in you oil pan. After the three covers are taken off, reinstall the crankshaft damper and get you need to align the timing marks on both camshafts and the crank according to the manual. You will need a helper to make sure you are Top Dead Center on compression on the number 1 cylinder. That is the cylinder closes to passenger side fender on the firewall side of engine. Once the three mark are correct you can loosen the belt tensioner, remove belt and water pump. I may have forgtten some steps but this gives you a idea. It took me three weekends about 8 hr days. Make sure to replace the water pump with an original one from Japan. About $40 more than Ameriacn replacements. 230,000 miles on my Legend, second timing belt and firts water pump replacement. Good Luck