[dieseldo]

Greetings all, I am going to put a new water pump in next week-end. I was just wondering how to keep the o-ring on the water pump while assemblying. That and any other tips would be much appreciated......Thanks.....

 

[Excavator]

I use wheel bearing grease to hold them in place.
Take a look at my fan nut wrench in my signature. That is what I made to knock off the large nut behind the fan

 

[bigfootinindiana]

I recommend taking the new pump and laying it on piece of cardboard, then trace the outline of the pump and the bolt holes. Then as you take the bolts from the block you can shove them into the cardboard in the proper location to keep track of them. Some of the bolts are varied lengths.

Jason

 

[fordmedic]

I recommend taking the new pump and laying it on piece of cardboard, then trace the outline of the pump and the bolt holes. Then as you take the bolts from the block you can shove them into the cardboard in the proper location to keep track of them. Some of the bolts are varied lengths.

Jason

X's 2 that's what i did and it worked great.

 

[sdan27]

when you take out the 3 bolts holding the thermostat housing, loosen them slowly and evenly to help prevent warping the housing flange so it won't leak. do the same thing when putting it back together too.

 

[Land_Surveyor]

I have done this and be carefull since the bolts like to break. Had to drill three of then out. I used petroleum jelly to hold the gasket on the water pump and the thermostat housing.

 

[dieseldo]

Thanks for all the tips guys!!!

 

[tutone]

dieseldo, there is a special wrench set you can buy to get the fan & clutch removed that makes it much easier. I ended up buying them ($40-50 IIRC) since I knew I'd be doing it again in the future. If you have a wrench that fits, you'll be fine. The 2nd wrench fits over the pully bolts to hold the pully which is not necessary, it just makes it a bit easier.

Oh, and I'm not exactly the brightest light on the tree, so when I read the sticker on the fan shroud that says the fan clutch is "right hand thread" I assumed it was not normal. I didn't bother to think about it. If I had I would have saved a bit of time! righty tighty, lefty loosey.

It's a fairly straightforward job.

 

[MX_STROKER]

Thanks for all the tips guys!!!

Put a large piece of cardboard behind the radiator to preven any damage to it with the fan. The clutch fan and shroud came out together and they are heavy, so be careful. :thumbsup:

 

[angst]

I love that cardboard bolt template idea.

Dieseldo if you've ever considered converting to an electric fan now is a good excuse while the fan is out anyway. If the water pump failed due to the fan clutch being bad then you have an even better excuse to make the switch.

 

[pjwoolw]

Save some time and get a new thermostat and housing before you start the job. Also when you remove it take the bolts a find some allen head nuts the same size. Makes the install allot easier. I believe they are metric but I might be wrong. Make sure of the thread size before installation. The thermostat I got for Ford had a gasket already on it. You don't have to mess around with that o-ring. Fill with coolant up close to the top of pump where the thermostat goes before installing it. Outstanding idea with the cardboard.

 

[dieseldo]

Well all done. It wasn't too bad a job. The cardboard template was great. I use the box the Water pump came in. The worst part was spending two hours trying to find a way to get the fan clutch off. So after I went to rent the wrenches from Autozone the fan came off in about 2 minutes. I installed the new pump with the thermostat housing already attached and that seemed to work out ok. Thanks again for the tip...