How do you replace the water pump without removing the engine mount located on a 1995 Buick LeSabre?

Answer 1

Thank you everyone!! Two hours of hell and incredulous belief that these rat bastards would design an easy 90% R&R you leave one bolt which needs ridicules effort and time. I am too old for this *&^%$.!!! Is it so hard to do things right? Thanks for comfirming my nightmare!!I own a 1994 Buick Lesabre with a defective (leaking) water pump. After spending several hours, trying many different alternatives, I bave come to the conclusion that the motor mount MUST be removed. There is no way around this step. I even removed (or tried to remove) the two bolts which can be accessed through the motor mount; however, the the lower one cannot be removed due to its length (> 3"). I understand that the only way to accomplish this task is to properly support the motor and remove the mount. I have replaced several water pumps in my life on several differecnt types of cars; howver, Buick wins the "Poorly Engineered Award" in my book! My next car will be a Toyota. They know how to make cars that last and can be properly maintained.

I also own a Buick LeSabre although mine is a 1994. The following is the exact process. Loosen and remove the long bolt which goes directly through the motor mount. Next, loosen and remove all six bolts and one nut which hold the motor mount to the engine and frame. Next, you will need to find or make a block of wood that will be used to raise the engine. I used four pieces of 2" x 3" (5" long) and tie or strap them together. This block was then inserted directly in front of the oil pan (under the car on the right side). Next, position a hydraulic jack directly under this block of wood. Slowly raise the right side of the engine just high enough to remove both parts of the motor mount (about 8-10 inches). You now can replace your defective water pump. After you have replaced the water pump, just reverse the process and you are finished. It took me about three hours after I figured out what I needed to do. Good Luck! Deano/Illinois

Thanks for the help, it was driving me nuts. I still have a problem though. I removerd the top nut for the part of the mount that attaches to the motor, but it seems like I will need to remove the bolt that it was on in order to get the motor mount to move? Is that the case?

I just did mine on a 92. I could not get the mount out because there is not enough room to slide it off the stud from the block. After cursing all American cars and their engineers, I noticed I could swing it to the right to get the pump bolts out. So although you have to remove almost all the mount bolts, if you can't slide it out, try sliding it to the right. I also jacked up the front of the motor until the Power Steering punp tank touched the cross member bar. Really not that bad - about 3 hours.

Oh Yeh ! autozone.com has a great site having instructions and pics on how to do it.

This is a pay back post. I couldn't have done this without what I found on the net !!!!!

Wow, lots of pumps are being replaced. I did mine last week. The way i did it on my 95 lesabre was to jack up the motor so that the bolt that is in the rubber of the motor mount comes off easily. Then take off the half of the mount that is connected to the car(4 bolts, 2 top and 2 side) Then proceed to take off the one on the motor( 2 bolts and on nut) Then you have to jack up the motor a little bit more and slide that half of the mount out then slant it up to get it out.

It was a bit of a hassle but it is much easier to put back together. I would have to say that the Toyota camery that i helped replaced the pump on was much more a pain in the butt. Less space to move around, along with having to remove the motor mount, was not worth it.

I too had to change the water pump on my 96 LeSabre. Unfortunately, It took over 5 hours the first time because I had to find out on my own what to do with the motor mount. I also made the mistake of listening to the parts clerk and because he didn't know what he was talking about, I had my whole project put back together only to realize that it was lacking Gasket sealer and I had to restart. After knowing what I was doing, it only took me around 2 hours to complete.

I just finished my 96 LeSabre...I DID NOT HAVE TO REMOVE THE MOTOR MOUNT. I just took the battery & cooling fluid reservoir out (very easy) and it left me plenty of working room. The only reason I would have had to take the mount off is if I was replacing the serpentine belt(which was in great shape). I just took it off the pulleys & worked around it. I did have to take the power steering pulley off to get the last water pump bolt out. (there are 2 bolts that you access through the power steering pulley holes -one above & one below)

It took me all day but I didn't even know what a water pump looked like until I took the new one out of the box. YOU CAN DO IT! All you need is rachets , screwdrivers , patience . It'll much easier next time. Thanks to all for the advice above . Autozone.com has great diagrams but don't worry about taking that belt off unless you need a new one.

I didn't have to remove the mount on my 93 leSabre...but I did have to remove the bolts and move it to one side. Here are my steps: (1) Losen bolts on water pump flywheel while belt still on car. (2) Remove belt (3) Take a 2x4 long enough to cover oil pan and use a jack and jack-off car till engine raises quite high. It helps if you position the jack wheels such that the jack can move side-to-side across the front of vehicle. Just watch when you jack-up that power steer pump doesn't hit cross bar on the top side. (My first mistake was not jacking high enough.) (4) Remove long bolt from center of motor mount. (5) Remove two bolts and one nut from engine side of motor mount. (6) On the frame side of motor mount there are 4 bolts to remove...two on top and two under the mount that are on its bracket that you can't see. Remove them. (7) Remove the 4 previous loosened bolts on the pump flywheel. (8) Take a 3 foot section of 2x4 and whack the corners so its a wedge. Jam it down against the engine flywheel and the frame and move the engine over towards driver's side. If you do it right the mount bracket will separate and shift to the front of the car just enough to expose the two bolts on the pump that you normally can't get to. And it will allow you to remove the pump flywheel. (9) Remove the pumps little bolts and big bolts. I think there are 4 and 4. (10) Remove pump, clean gasket, install new pump and reverse order. (11) Curse GM for making a simple job a real pain in the butt.

By the way....before you start pick up a can of PB BLAST in Wally World's automotive section. Its a yellow can with a bunch of tacky-stuff printed on it. It works great on freeing bolts...just spray on, go have a beer and remove later.