How to Replace a Water Pump

The first step to replacing a water pump is to drain the engine coolant.  You can usually do this by opening the petcock of the radiator.  It is important that you are very careful when opening the petcock because after time they become very brittle and break easily.  If the petcock seems like its going to break you can pull the lower hose off of the radiator to drain the coolant.  Once the coolant is drained from the engine, if you have a clutch fan that needs to be removed from the water pump pulley it is always one nut that you need to remove to remove the clutch fan.  If it is reverse thread it will say “reverse thread clutch fan” on the fan shroud.  If your vehicle has electric fans this step should be skipped.  Once the clutch fan is removed from the water pump pulley, then loosed the water pump pulley bolts.  Usually there is 4, 10mm bolts.  Once they are loosened, remove the serpentine belt, then remove the water pump pulley, and then the water pump.  Be sure to clean the old gasket off the engine block and install a new gasket.  Install the new water pump and then re-assemble in opposite order it was taken apart.  Fill radiator with new engine coolant.  The perfect scenario would be 60% antifreeze and 40% water.  Then run the vehicle until it reaches operating temperature.  Place cap on radiator.   Your job is now complete! Let vehicle engine run for about 15 minutes after done to make sure that everything is correct.