Waterpump Replacement

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: Fazzone
RoGue, I had a similar issue with my truck this summer, the make or break part of replacing it will be whether or not you can get the fan/clutch assembly off the old pump. I spent a lot of time to get mine off and finally took the pump and fan off together so I could put a vise-grip on the pulley to hold it in place. New pump comes with the pulley so no need to worry about damaging it. Also, make sure you have some rtv silicone around to help hold the gaskets on during assembly. It's a pretty straightforward job, just take your time and you should be fine. Now might also be a good time to replace the belts too while you're at it.


Thank you... I said this early on and was ignored. I think most seemed to have forgotten that the fan/clutch thread on to the water pump.

 

[MarkM66]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Just for the fun of it I checked the Autozone website, but I don't know the specifics for your Suburban, so I checked on a water pump for a 5.3 motor, 1500 Series 2 Wheel Drive. It's $120.00 for a new Duralast pump with a lifetime warranty and it includes the gasket set with the pump. It looks like it comes with a new pulley already installed, and has the metal pipes on it to reinstall your radiator and heater hoses already pressed on the body of the pump too. The Napa pump is $124.00 for a new pump, and looks to be about the same as the Autozone pump. The Napa pump looks to be a better quality part, but it's hard to tell from a picture online. From the looks of it, the thermostat is mounted to the face of the pump housing, so it would be a good idea to replace your thermostat at the same time while replacing the pump.

With the coolant, you recently did a flush and fill, so if you can, buy a new clean drain pan, catch the coolant when you drain the radiator and re-use it. Otherwise, catch it anyway, put it in milk jugs or some other suitable container and take it to the local dump for recycling. Or see if a local garage will recycle it for you. Just be sure to wash any spilled coolant off the ground where you do the pump replacement. It's very poisonous and animals and kids are both attracted to it.

If you have the tools and the time, go for it and fix the truck yourself. If you are fairly mechanically inclined and have your Haynes book it should not be that difficult. Plus you have the BITOG community here to help you out of you get stuck.

If this was my truck I would be all over a water pump replacement. I would get an early start on Saturday morning and take my time with it.


You can get a New GMB pump at Advanced for $67.99 before tax.

It's on sale at $12 off, ad it to your cart, and then ad BIG40 in the promo code area. Bam! 40% off which take it down the the $67.99. Pay online and go to the store to pick it up. Super easy.

 

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted By: Thax
This should be a DIY job you can tackle . Im not a Chevy guy but it shouldnt be more than draining the coolant , removing the serpentine belt and then between 4-8 bolts on the water pump itself.I may be wrong so consult a Chilton's manual. If you decide to take this on yourself , do not buy a remanufactured water pump. I see way to many comebacks at work due to failure compared to zero for new water pumps, avoid the temptation to save $20 bucks and get the new one and you will have saved yourself headache in the future.


100% agree on the new comment.
I had to do my original water pump in my 96 Saturn at 145K miles and I went new so it would last the rest of the life of the car.

 

[Herz]

Originally Posted By: RoGuE
I didn't remove the thermostat because on these year Suburbans the thermostat is "integrated with the water inlet".


Eh, that is misleading actually. You remove the metal peice at the end of the hose and you can pull the therm off, just for fututre reference. Careful though it is aluminum and the bolts just need to be snug I think its like 20flbs. You will have to remove it when you replace the pump.

 

[demarpaint]

You should be able to do it yourself. I've done several w/o air tools. I have a pressure tester so I'd make certain it is the water pump leaking and not a hose clamp or some other easy fix.

The last water pump I needed a had a buddy do. It was nowhere near $500-$600. For that kind of money I'd do it no matter what.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Originally Posted By: The_Eric
Originally Posted By: Fazzone
RoGue, I had a similar issue with my truck this summer, the make or break part of replacing it will be whether or not you can get the fan/clutch assembly off the old pump. I spent a lot of time to get mine off and finally took the pump and fan off together so I could put a vise-grip on the pulley to hold it in place. New pump comes with the pulley so no need to worry about damaging it. Also, make sure you have some rtv silicone around to help hold the gaskets on during assembly. It's a pretty straightforward job, just take your time and you should be fine. Now might also be a good time to replace the belts too while you're at it.


Thank you... I said this early on and was ignored. I think most seemed to have forgotten that the fan/clutch thread on to the water pump.


Just like in the video the other guy posted, you can leave the belt on to help hold the water pump pulley in place and put a big ole adjustable wrench on the fan clutch nut, smack the end of the wrench with a good-sized hammer a few good licks and the fan clutch nut should loosen up. If it is stuck tight, Advance and Autozone rent a fan clutch tool set for free that may help you. You have to pay a deposit up front to use the tool but they give the deposit back to you when you return the tool. If you don't have a big enough adjustable wrench or hammer and need to save money on the job, check out Harbor Freight. They should have the hammer and a large adjustable wrench for probably 10 bucks for both tools, maybe even less.

 

[demarpaint]

Just be certain before wacking the fan clutch it isn't reverse threaded. Wack it in the proper direction.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Originally Posted By: The_Eric
Originally Posted By: Fazzone
RoGue, I had a similar issue with my truck this summer, the make or break part of replacing it will be whether or not you can get the fan/clutch assembly off the old pump. I spent a lot of time to get mine off and finally took the pump and fan off together so I could put a vise-grip on the pulley to hold it in place. New pump comes with the pulley so no need to worry about damaging it. Also, make sure you have some rtv silicone around to help hold the gaskets on during assembly. It's a pretty straightforward job, just take your time and you should be fine. Now might also be a good time to replace the belts too while you're at it.



Thank you... I said this early on and was ignored. I think most seemed to have forgotten that the fan/clutch thread on to the water pump.


Just like in the video the other guy posted, you can leave the belt on to help hold the water pump pulley in place and put a big ole adjustable wrench on the fan clutch nut, smack the end of the wrench with a good-sized hammer a few good licks and the fan clutch nut should loosen up. If it is stuck tight, Advance and Autozone rent a fan clutch tool set for free that may help you. You have to pay a deposit up front to use the tool but they give the deposit back to you when you return the tool. If you don't have a big enough adjustable wrench or hammer and need to save money on the job, check out Harbor Freight. They should have the hammer and a large adjustable wrench for probably 10 bucks
for both tools, maybe even less.


You know I hadn't thought that you could do it with a hammer and wrench but the video shows it is possible. Though I have run into a few that were quite stubborn even with the air hammer.

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

There must be a tool that works perfectly to hold the pulley while you unbolt the fan clutch, but neither Autozone nor NAPA had it when I did this job. Autozone gave me a kit for Fords. I finally rented something from NAPA that I made work with some extra screws, nuts and washers. Besides a day wasted chasing tools, it was a fairly easy job. I'm sure the big hammer and vise grip method works for some, but I tend to tear things up that way.

Definitely replace the thermostat while you're at it. You don't want to tear into it a third time when the original fails. You'll replace the housing and stat as a unit--look around on Rockauto.com to see pictures. Also check the A/C belt and tensioner. That's a small belt behind the main one, toward the bottom of the engine. At 80,000, my A/C belt looked bad and the tensioner was rattling. I got good prices on parts for the job at Rockauto, but the Advance pump suggested above is a lot less than I paid.

Good luck.

 

[Thax]

Originally Posted By: SLCraig
Originally Posted By: Thax
This should be a DIY job you can tackle . Im not a Chevy guy but it shouldnt be more than draining the coolant , removing the serpentine belt and then between 4-8 bolts on the water pump itself.I may be wrong so consult a Chilton's manual. If you decide to take this on yourself , do not buy a remanufactured water pump. I see way to many comebacks at work due to failure compared to zero for new water pumps, avoid the temptation to save $20 bucks and get the new one and you will have saved yourself headache in the future.


100% agree on the new comment.
I had to do my original water pump in my 96 Saturn at 145K miles and I went new so it would last the rest of the life of the car.


Yeah buying new parts is nearly always the way to go. I understand the need for part remanufacturing and its place in the industry and benefits to the environment and potential for savings. However when it comes to my cars and to my customers who who want zero hassle to get the job done right the first time, I always suggest the new part.

 

[RoGuE]

Thanks for all the great information. I'm going to call the dealers tomorrow and find out what they charge for the OEM parts. If it's similar I'll maybe go that route. Doubtful though.

Also, I think I managed to find the leak. I was able to get a view of the water pump. I can't see the weep hole, but it doesn't look like it's coming from there.

 

[RoGuE]

I finally got a hold of an inspection mirror (I actually made one from a blind spot mirror taped to a long screwdriver) and got a look at the weep hole. It wasn't wet when I looked, but it looked stained, but I can't say it was stained with 100%. So far I still haven't confirmed with absolute certainty that it is the water pump.

I called around to three local dealers, and all three gave me the exact same price on the OEM water pump, something like $254 and change. So do most of you agree that NAPA has quality parts? I looked at the AAP pump and it doesn't look as good.

 

[Jimmy9190]

For an important part like a water pump yes I would say Napa would be your best bet. Their online pictures show what looks like a better quality pump than Autozone. A lot of people here order parts from Rockauto.com. I have never used them so I don't know if they sell an OEM pump or just a good quality aftermarket pump but it might be worth a look. I know Rockauto is supposed to have good prices.

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

RoGuE,

I just compared the pumps at NAPA online and Rockauto--A new Gates pump is $76 on Rockauto, and I'm pretty sure that's the same pump NAPA sells. (Click on "Warranty" for the NAPA pump and a Gates lifetime warranty comes up.)

I would not hesitate to order from Rockauto--they have always given me excellent service. Look for their latest 5% discount code in the BITOG sales forum. As you add parts to your order, make sure they all come from the same warehouse, though, or you'll pay extra shipping costs.

 

[Herz]

Originally Posted By: RoGuE
I finally got a hold of an inspection mirror (I actually made one from a blind spot mirror taped to a long screwdriver) and got a look at the weep hole. It wasn't wet when I looked, but it looked stained, but I can't say it was stained with 100%. So far I still haven't confirmed with absolute certainty that it is the water pump.

I called around to three local dealers, and all three gave me the exact same price on the OEM water pump, something like $254 and change. So do most of you agree that NAPA has quality parts? I looked at the AAP pump and it doesn't look as good.





use nothing but NAPA parts, they are great. They're belts and hoses are made by gates and the t stat is a STANT superstat. In case you wanted to pick those up. for a water pump, i'd not order online incase you had to warranty it. KEEP all NAPA receipts, that peice of paper is your warranty.

 

[Jimmy9190]

What I have discovered with Napa is their engine parts 99.9% of the time will always be an exact match for the OEM part you are replacing. They will look and be built and machined exactly the same as the factory part and to me that is very important. I learned that lesson when I had to replace the serpentine belt tensioner on my truck. I went through 2 tensioners from Autozone-they kept slinging the belt off- before I finally looked at the Napa part online and saw the very obvious differences in part construction. I returned the AZ part, bought the Napa part and it has been doing fine ever since, and that was over 103,000 miles ago. I have seen the same thing with other Napa parts I have bought too. IMHO, Napa does make the better part if you don't buy from the dealer. A lot of guys here use Rockauto and they have no problem, but I personally just don't do mail order parts. I'm not home during the day to receive and sign for it anyway.

The downside to Napa is sometimes you have to buy their "premium" line to get the exact OEM replacement part. Premium means exactly that - it costs more than the lower line. Also, depending on the staff at the store, you may have to ask for the premium line part, they may not always offer it to you right away. The good thing about the premium lines is they always have a better warranty, some even have a lifetime warranty. Defeketes is right too: keep the receipt, it's the warranty verification and they can't do much to help you without it if you have a warranty claim.

I think you would be smart to use a good OEM quality pump from Napa. This is not a job you want to do over because of a failed cheap part.

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

I just did the H2O pump removal on my 6.0 Chevy truck, almost the same engine. The worst part was figuring out how to get those pins out of the radiatior shroud. Wish I had seen the video first.

For the fan/clutch assembly, I used a Harbor Freight (HF) cresent wrench for the bolt, and a strap wrench around the pulley. A two pound sand filled hammer (also HF) used on the end of the adjustable wrench provided a "poor man's" impact.

I've found my Haynes repair manual worse than useless. I'm currently in the process of trying to find out how to allign my crankshaft harmonic balancer. The Haynes manual said to line up the slot in the pulley with the key in the crankshaft. It doesn't have one, and I found from a real shop manual I should have marked the position before removing the balancer. Live and learn.

 

[doitmyself]

Probably too late, but I learned the joy of using one of these coolant system pressurizers to help locate leaks very easy. Just attach to the radiator opening, pump, then look for leaks/pressure loss.

Probably AZ, AAP, etc. "rent" them for free. Good luck with your repair.

 

[RoGuE]

I'll consider Rockauto, but ordering something like that online seems a little scary in case something is wrong with it after it's installed.

As far as the pressure tester, will that still push coolant out of a weep hole if that is the problem area? Looks real useful though, I'll call the local part stores and see what they have.

 

[RoGuE]

I just picked up that pressure tester. The manual says to pump it up to 30psi, but I read elsewhere online you shouldn't go above 15psi. Which is it?

Should I be able to see coolant physically come out as I apply pressure?