How hard is it to change a water pump on a 1998 Dodge Dakota 6-cylinder Sport and what are the procedures?

Answer 1

ANSWER

I'm pretty sure that 16 hours is ridiculous. My pump went out on my way home from a vacation, I had to stay in a hotel, and do the repair in the parking lot of the autozone the next morning, and even then it only took me like 4 hours to do start to finish. The O- ring isn't that big of a deal, its pretty simple, all you need is some good sealer, just put it together like it looks on the truck. My haynes manual was very helpful, the tools you need are,

socket set, channel locks(AKA, the huge slipjoint plyers,) the fan comes off very predictably if you use the tools that auto zone has in their loaner program, its a 5 piece set, you'll need your big socket wrench for that too. and a good pair of regular plyers.

p.s. the only really hard part is putting on the hose that goes from the engine to the pump, because the clamp is up under the back of the pump, but autozone has some special 90 degree needle nose plyers that make that really easy too. Its not that hard, just make sure you get the gasket seated right and buy some sealant cause you'll need that too. Should take like 6 hours at the MOST>>>

I've done it and it's the most major repair I've done on my own. Took me close to 16 hours... most of which was getting the fan off. There is not enough room for a conventional wrench and the special wrench you can get from Autozone (loaner) does not work very well with Dak's. Getting the heater hose reattached is also a major pain because there is a little rubber O-ring that has to seat perfectly or else it will leak. The Hayne's manual details the procedure pretty well. I would say that you should only attempt it if you can't afford it and/or you consider yourself capable of doing moderately advanced repair work (i.e. anything short of rebuilding an engine).

i started to do it on mine but gave up after looking at it. it cost me $300 out the door to just have it done.