Water Pumps

first open the hood on the left driver side front head on the back you will see a small belt take the cover off the belt take the belt off will need a special tool the pump turns in and locks in place located above transmission. the cam shaft drives the belt for the water pump

Look for bleeder valve to bleed the system. If it has no bleeder valves, then jack up the front of the car as high as possible. Remove the radiator cap, fill the system to the top, set the heater to hot, and start the engine. Watch for escaping air and keep the system full. When you no longer see air bubbles escaping, you are done. Recheck it at least one more time, in a day or so.

theres a few things it will do with any car not just your 3 olds, it may sound like you have marbles inside of a glass jar spinning around ... it may make a noise like a rewinding tape in the vcr... or if its doing it a lot it prolly isent your water pump it may be your tensioner.. which is about a $40 fix... the bareings go bad in those about every 3 years depending on how much you drive ... but if your water pump isent leaking and you arent having to refill your coolant weekly and your car isent overheating then it isent that most likely somthing elese - power steering, tensioner, belt?, alt. A/C <--$$$

The Water pump is located on the left side of the engine in the timing belts. It's the top one closest to where you would be standing with one of the belts going around it. its the largest loopy thing. Sorry, im not an expert but i had to change my water pump recently.

Hi. It's easy to change, first drain down the fluid in the rad. take the big black fan cover off, 3 bolts on top and two down on each side. lift the top have out. then take the fan belt off. and remove the fan and pully there is 4 bolts that hold the fan on to the pully. there are 4 bolts on the water pump, two on each side of the pump.I think they are 1/2 or 9/16. It should take no more than 1 hour to do the job and this is for a first timer. Make sure you use new water pump gaskets and clean the block well before installing. Put everything back on in the reverse order. and top the rad back up again, before starting. PS make sure you disconnect the batter first before starting this job. Good Luck.

Take the bolts of the fan blades

Your best bet is to just go to the library, and get the book there i have a 1990 and it was a pain. Had to remove the shard,fan,belt. Not alot of room to work with so when i was ready to rebolt it back up i used a steel rod to hold one side in place to bolt it back together. and for the shard that covers the fan i cut mine in half and put 2 bolts to reconnect it reason being is if i have to take it off again wont be a pain to get out. Works great

Jack up the front of the vehicle.

Remove the passenger side wheel.

Remove the plastic mud shield that covers the engine, there are several plastic retainer pins that should pry out with a little attention to detail.

Remove the serpentine belt, or at the very least, take pressure off of it enough to pull it away from the water pump pulley. Some serpentine tensioners have a square hole that accommodates a 1/2 inch breaker bar.

At that point, the water pump should be relatively easy to remove/replace.

this depends on your engine. Usually it is run by the timing belt.

GOOD LUCK WITH THIS ONE,ITS A REAL TUFF JOB IF YOU DONT HAVE THE PROPER EQUIPMENT BUT IT CAN BE DONE IF YOUR A GOOD BACKYARD MECHANIC. FIRST OF ALL JACK THE CAR UP AND REMOVE THE PASSENGER SIDE TIRE , PUT JACK STAND UNDER THAT SIDE. UNBOLT THE AIR POLUTION PUMP FROM THE FRONT OF THE ENGINE AND PULL AWAY BUT DONT DISCONECT. UNBOLT AND REMOVE THE SIDE ENGINE MOUNT, THIS IS WHERE IT GETS HARD. PUT A JACK UNDER THE ENGINE AND JACK IT UP AS HIGH AS YOU CAN GET IT THE WIGGLE THE ENGINE MOUNT AND BOLTS OUT, THEY WILL COME BUT NOT EASILY. NOW GO AND RENT A CRANK SHAFT PULLY PULLER OR HARMONIC SINCRONISER , GO TO AUTO ZONE YOU PUT A DEPOSIT DOWN AND GET IT ALL BACK. PULL OFF THE CRANK SHAFT PULLY AND REACH UP BEHIND THE ALTERNATOR AND LOSEN THE TENSION BOLT , THIS ONE IS FUN TO BUT AGAIN IT CAN BE DONE. REMOVE THE ALTERNATOR AND AIR CONDITIONING BELTS FROM THE PULLY THEN POP IT OFF. NOW REMOVE THE PLASTIC SHROUD, TWO BOLTS ON BOTTOM . YOU CAN SEE THE WATER PUMP NOW BUT IT LOOKS LIKE THE REAR SHOUD ALSO HAS TO BE REMOVED. FORGET IT , JUST CACK ENOUGH OF IT AWAY SO YOU CAN GET OUT ALL THE BOLTS. THERE YA GO, NOW PUT IT ALL BACK TOGETHER, AND MAKE DAM SURE YOU HAVE THE CRANK SHAFT PULLY TIGHTENED DOWN AS FAR AS IT WILL GO OTHERWISE THE BELTS WILL SLIP OFF. YOU WILL PROBABLY JACK UP AND LET DOWN THE ENGINE AS FAR AS IT WILL GO SEVERAL TIMES BEFORE YOUR DONE.

Unless you are an able mechanic do not attempt this.The timimg belt drives the water pump.

Set the engine on top dead center. Align the timing marks, use whiteout to mark their position Remove the fan belt and fan. Remove the top radiator hose. Remove the thermostat housing assembly. Remone the fan belt bracket. Remove the timing cover. Remove the two camshaft pulleys. Remove the back plate of the timing cover. You can now get to the water pump.

Good luck.

Tony.

you shouldn't have to bother the camshaft pulleys , having the timing belt drive the pump wouldn't make the job any haqrder

Check under car for water leaks. Check the pump make sure the seal is tight,listen to the pump while the car is running and see if you hear any noise from the pump. This could be a sign of broken blazes.Finially pull off the upper hose to the water pump start the engine and see if the pump is working. If it is, check the thermostat it may not be opening to let the water pass through.

The water pump is driven by the timing belt on the driver's side of the engine. You have to remove the timing belt cover to see it. It is secured by 4 (maybe 5) 10mm bolts. While you're at it, I would replace the timing belt.

All very true -- but first

Go ahead and borrow a 3/4 inch drive impact wrench and have it ready , go ahead and buy the pump, belt, and head cover gasket kit before you get dirty.

I would start by jacking up the left front and removing the tire and splash shield (15 min.) this also gets the car up in the air so it's not so hard on your back to bend over all the time working on it. Then remove the cruise control actuator and lay it on the induction system (no need to remove hoses). The darn electrical connector was tough to get off so just be patient and you'll see how to take it apart. (10 Minutes) Then remove the power steering pump and reservoir and lay them near the cruise control box. You'll need to pull the hoses off the reservoir and that will make a nice mess. Also remove the mounting bracket and the belt tightener (90 minutes as I had to heat 1 bolt red hot with the accetelyne torch to get it off))

Then take off the alternator belt (that caused the most blood loss for me (fat arm, tight space)) Then remove the head cover. (5 minutes) and the upper belt cover ( 2 minutes). Now take your 17 mm impact socket on your 3/4 inch drive air impact wrench and remove the big pulley through the wheel well. (1 minute) (or you can screw around with breaker bars, rubber straps and your 1/2 inch electric impact wrench for 4 hours and then go borrow the 3/4 inch BAD BOY). Now remove the 3 bolts holding the bottom cover and you are in!. I went ahead and lined up the timing marks before removing the timing belt but really, as long as you are very careful not to move either pulley with the belt off, you will be fine. loosen the tightener pulley nut and remove the belt. NOW you get to remove 5 easy bolts and put on the new pump (easy as pie). Reverse the procedure to get it done ( Use a 5.231 second burst from your now ashamed 1/2 inch impact wrench to reinstall your big pulley at the required 135 ft-lbs torque) DO NOT USE THE BAD BOY! Add 1/2 gallon of antifreeze and top off with water. I had a ball! and hope you do as well!

standing in front of the car looking into the engine on the left side it is the second pulley down it has a smooth surface no ribs.

If you are talking about a leak within the compartment of the car interior, my guess is that it's your heater core. There is a small radiator (heater core) usually mounted under the dashboard that provides heat to the cars interior. If it's a cold day and you want to heat the interior of your car you turn the controls to heat and turn the fan on, what happens is that a little of the antifreeze/coolant that circulates in your engine is diverted to that small radiator (heater core) under your dash and a fan blows across it to heat the car. As the under dash heater core becomes old it starts to leak, that's why you are seeing radiator fluid on the floor. You need to have it replaced.

The water pump is on the back of the engine, passenger side. If you look down on the engine from the passenger side, look to the rear of the engine mount. You will see a plate attached to the front cover with 4 10mm bolts. Behind that plate is the water pump drive gear. It is driven by the balance shaft chain. There is a special tool to hold the chain in place because if you take the bolts out without holding the chain you will need to remove the timing chain and balance shaft chain to reset the timing. The pump comes out the rear of the timing cover. Held in by 4 13mm bolts. Also there is a pipe going into the middle rear of the pump that needs to be removed before you can get the pump out. It runs under the exhaust manifold to the other end of the engine into the t-stat housing. It needs to come off as well

I am working on my '99 Silverado now. It took me 3 hours to get the old pump off. Now I am stuck... Here is what I have done, not sure if it is correct... Step one - drain down the radiator - pull down hose sticking up on driver's side of radiator. stick it into a bucket or old milk jug, etc. Open little valve (plastic) on bottom of radiator (driver's side near start of rubber hose). Open the coolant fill cap on the white plastic coolant overflow container on the passenger side. This will allow the coolant to flow out of the radiator. Step Two - Remove fan cowl. Two bolts on radiator mounting frame and then two bolts on each side of cowl itself. Cowl will lift out in two pieces. Step Three - Remove fan if you can (this is where I got stuck - so I skipped this - read on). Step Three (again) - remove serpentine belt. With 3/8" driver - stick this into the tensioning thingy (the one below the alternator - passenger side of fan). Pull on driver and belt should become loose. Remove belt. Step Four - with a pair of channel locks grab the clamps holding the hoses in place and move them down the hose to a place that is not over the metal tube inside the hose. This will make removal of the water pump easier later. If you can loosen up the hoses now do it, otherwise this can wait until later. Step Five - (protect the gound below with a tarp or container to catch spillage) With your socket and a long extension you should be able to reach the four bolts holding the water pump on. Reaching in through the fan into where you can't see put the socket on and turn. Step Six - Pull water pump free - work the hoses off as best you can. Step Seven - don't knick your radiator Step eight - Clean all of the gasket material off the engine block with a painter's small putty knife or scrapper. Make sure you get it all - you don't want to fix a leak later do you? Step nine - NOW I am stuck - With the fan still attached to the old water pump - remove the fan and pulley assembly from the old water pump. HOW do I get this off!!! I think I know how but it doesn't seem to work the way I think it should? Step ten - reassemble with new water pump..... In my answer I meant to mentions that my '99 sivlerado is also a 4.3 V6. Ok I got the fan off. I went to a garage and the mechanic pulled out a chisel and an air line. Hooked the chisel to the air line and put the fan/waterpump assembly on the ground. He used the chisel on the nut holding the fan to the pump on the ground. The vibration and the downward force of the chisel got the nut free in about two tries. The fan assembly easily spun off the water pump. total time 2 minutes plus trip to service station. I then went home an put the new pump on and put it all back together. better than an air chisel, use a strap wrench on the pulley and a big crescent on the fan nut. the fan nut isn't that tight. When i replaced my water pump i didn't have a strap wrench. what i did was i had my buddy hold the pulley tight just with his hands while i used a large wrench on the fan nut and hit the wrench somewhat hard to get the nut loose. took about 2 seconds

The pump bolts directly to the engine block, directly behind the timing belt assembly. Therefore, if you have a need to replace the timing belt, it's probably a good idea to consider changing the water pump as well (and visa-versa).

Not real hard but you need direction. Get a manual on your car from the parts store or from AUTOBOOKSONLINE.COM. It will cost about $20

Probably one of the easiest but you need direction. Get a manual on your car from DISCOUNTAUTOREPAIRMANUALS.COM

yes the bolts are too long at first, i just finished changing mine today. my timing belt exploded on me. turns out in order to actually get the bolts clear of the block you have to take off the passenger side motor mount and loosen the others and basically push the engine down. with everything loose it'll make it, just barely, but you can already see how close it is. the way you have it now you can tell it's only a few mm to clear. try it this way, it'll work. and you'll have to take off the motor mounts anyway to hoist the engine out if that was your last resort.

Don't loosen the other motor mount!!!!!! if you loosen the passenger side mount and remove it , put a floor jack under the oil pan but be sure to use a block of wood to disperse the weight so you don't crush the oil pan. Jack your engine up about 6 inches, the motor mount and the other bolts will be easier to access and will slide past the fender wall easier. The water pump is actually attached to your timing belt so be very careful not to move the crankshaft or the camshafts when you remove the belt, this is one of the hardest engines to get back in time.

Remove the air cleaner assembly (must), remove the top half of the fan shroud (must), remove the top radiator hose (optional). I'm assuming you can figure out how to remove these items in my first sentence. If you can't, no offense, but in my opinion you have no business doing this job to start with. BEFORE you remove the serpentine belt, use a large wrench to unscrew the thermostatic clutch fan assembly from the water pump. If you don't, you will need a special tool (or you can make one as I did) to get the thermostatic clutch fan assembly off the water pump because once you remove the water pump you have no good way to hold the smooth pulley while you remove the fan assembly. This I know from experience. Just in case you don't know, you use a 3/8 ratchet inserted in the square hole of the belt tensioner to loosen the belt while you remove it. The water pump should now be accessable. There are 2 bolts on the left and 2 bolts on the right that hold the water pump to the front of the engine block. After removing the water pump you will need to remove the smooth pulley from the old pump and install it on the new one. Scrape any old gasket material off the engine block around the inlet and outlet where the water pump was mounted. Hope this helps and good luck. chevy astro and gmc safari ....same vehicle Just a note: it's much easier to remove the fan if you do it BEFORE loosening the serpentine belt. The large nut is located on the engine side of the fan. On my '98, the nut loosens counterclockwise if you're facine the engine from the front.

If it is leaking water, it is bad.