How do you replace water pump on 1998 Buick Regal 3.8L?

Answer 1

This is a light duty job for the average mechanic.

First disconnect the negative battery cable (black).

Second, remove the engine cover. To take the cover off, remove the oil filler cap. Then the neck of the oil fill can be rotated counter-clockwise and then lift away. Once those have been removed, the cover lifts off. There are no screws that attach the cover.

Next, you will need to drain the coolant from the car. Make sure the car is cool, and the radiator cap is cold. this is best if car has set overnight, or up to 4 hours. There is a drain plug at the bottom right of the radiator. A large drain pan is recommended. Remove the drain plug with pan under car to catch the fluid. once it has drained, replace the plug.

In the forth step, most people would remove the belt from the engine. I like to keep the belt on, to advoid the water pump pully from moving around while you remove the pully bolts. Remove the four bolts from the water pump pully. Be cautious that the belt has some force on it, and once you start the remove the last bolt on the pully, the pully will begin to move, be prepared.

Once the pully is removed, remove the belt. Now it is time to drain the engine of coolant. standing on the passanger side of the car, looking at the water pump...on the right of the water pump are two bolts. have your drain pan ready, and remove the lower bolt. the coolant will begin to drain, then remove the upper bolt. Once it is drained, move to the next step.

To the lower left of the water pump, is a pully for the power steering pump. The Power Steering pump will be removed, to set out of the way. The lines on the pump will not need to be removed. To remove the pump: look at the center of the pully, and notice three oval shaped holes. These holes allow you to access the two bolts that need to be removed to set the pump out of the way. The bolts are located just above and just below the center of the pump. Using a short extension, you can slide it through the holes and remove the bolts. Lay pump aside, for later reinstall.

Now you can remove all the bolts from the water pump. One all the bolts have been removed, use light pressure to push down on the pump, and it will break free from the engine.

To install your new water pump, make sure the surface where the old pump is free from old gasket and sealant. This can be removed with light scraping, and or acetoan. The new water pump needs to be prepared to be place on the engine. To start, place sealant around the edges, and surfaces that the gasket will be covering. Make sure there is plenty of sealant placed on the pump. Place the gasket on the pump. Now you will need to place more sealant on all of the gasket surface. The water pump is now prepped.

Make sure the gasket is aligned to all the bolt holes. Grab two of the longer bolts, and place them in the pump, and then apply the pump to the engine. Fasten the pump with the two bolts, finger tight. Start applying all the bolts to the pump, to a finger tightness. Now tighten all the bolts in a criss-cross pattern, getting tighter and tighter, until the all the bolts are very tight.

Replace the power steering pump in the same way it was removed.

Now its time to re-install the pully to the water pump. To start this, place the pully on the pump and then place the bolts on, finger tight. You CANNOT place the belt on now and use it for tension to tighten the pully bolts. You can tighten the bolts in a criss-cross pattern, using both hands, one holding the pully in place, while tightning the bolts. Follow the label under the hood to place the belt in the correct position.

Now its time to fill the engine with coolant. Using a 50/50 mixture of DEXCOOL coolant, and water, start to fill the radiator with fluid. Once full, using a falt head screw driver, you will need to open the bleeder valve. the bleeder valve is located on top of the thermostat housing. Do not remove it all the way! Continue to fill the radiator with coolant mixture, until full. Check under the car for any leaks.

Replace the negative battery cable(black).

Replace the engine oil filler neck and oil fill cap, without the engine cover, as you still have parts to access.

start the engine, with radiator cap off. Once the car is started the coolant level will drop, contine to add more of the coolant mixture. Once full again, check the bleeder valve. The bleeder valve should have fluid comming out of it in a slow steady pace. There may also be steam and/or air comming from the valve. Do not tighten valve until there is fluid only comming from the valve. You may see steam, bubbles, or spouts of fluid.

Once you have filled the radiator, allow the engine to reach normal temp. Once it has reached normal temp, shut the engine off, place the cap on the radiator, and tighten the bleeder valve. Allow the engine to cool down, a couple hours is decent. Once cool, remove the radiator cap and add coolant mixture until full.

Loosen the bleeder valve, if it has a steady stream of coolant comming from the valve, tighten the valve. Start the engine, and continue to fill the radiator with mixture, until full. Place the cap on the radiator, and let the engine reach normal tempture. Once normal temp is reached, shut off engine, and allow to cool.

Replace the engine cover, Oil filler neck and cap. Fill the over flow tank with coolant mixture to hot level.

Now you can drive you car for about 20-30 mins, then allow to cool, for a few hours, check the fluid level by removing the radiator cap. Add mixture if needed.

You should be good to go.

I just did this today, it took about 4-6 hours, with all the cooling down time.