How do you replace the water pump on a 1996 Kia Sephia 1.8L?

Answer 1

Water pump is located under timing belt cover, while in there check/replace timing belt & tensioner. Remove all accessory drive belts.Drian coolant.Remove crankshaft pulley. Remove timing belt covers(upper & lower). Mark timing belt for reinstallion. Release tensioner,remove belt,idler pulley,then water pump. It's an all afternoon job!! Good Luck!!

Additional Info:If you click on the picture it sould take you to Kia's Online Repair Shop Manual for all their vehicles. Choose yourts ROM the dropdown menu. This diagram is located under the 1996 Sephia 96 Sephia water pump cooling system replace repair section. Sorry for the bad sentence structure but I'm just making it easier for people to find this post via Google or other search engine.

If the link doesn't work for some HTML incompatibility issues: here is the link to cut and paste into the address bar:

http://www.kiatechinfo.com/viewer/default.asp?group=shop

Here is the link to the Kia Forums where the member 1fastkia has posted a step by step procedure for replacing the water pump/ timing belt for the 1.8l.

http://www.kia-forums.com/do-yourself/27672-sephia-spectra-timing-belt-how.HTML

I just spent 3 long evenings after work replacing the water pump for a 96 Kia Sephia. The old water pump was in very bad shape and the sound it made was very loud. The bearing had failed and coolant steamed out of the weep hole and the front of the housing profusely.

I suggest removing the Power Steering resevior bolts any clamp that holds any hard or flexible tubing along that side of the engine in place. You will find yourself with your hands over, under and through the lines most of the time. I had the car on two jackstands positioned behind the front A-arms and i lifted the vehicle with a large floor jack positioned under the center of the front support beam. There is a fairly large nub that the jack could rest around as I elevated the front. I removed the front right tire but found that most of my time was spent above looking into the engine bay from the front right corner leaning over the fender.

I had to remove the alternator tensioner bracket completely to allow for it to swing back far enough the slide the water pump out. The power steering pump is easily moved once the tentioner bolt is unscrewed/loosened by using a large crowbar wedged between the power steering pump and its bracket from the front of the engine bay, pulling forward as a lever to move it clear.

NOTE: Be sure to mark timing belt with something that will stick and is easy to see. I used soapstone and sharpies. Be aware, while you are working in this confined spaced, the timing cogs will get bumped, turned, jumped or whatever so it is IMPERATIVE that you mark all reference points before removing the timing belt. If you do not mark, and engine jumps timing, you will probably doing a valve job, or worse.