Coolant leak. Water pump??

[Twister]

How hard is it to change a water pump on this? Like is there anything I should really worry about, like breaking bolts or anything like that?

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Changing the water pump on your truck should be fairly simple. About the hardest part is remvoing the fan clutch and fan. You will also need to drain the coolant. If you drain it in a nice clean container and it looks good you could prolly get away with reusing it. When I did the one on my 2.8 I didn't break any bolts.

Just take your time make sure all surfaces where a gasket goes is clean.

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[b2tamer]

Okay. Do I need to use some kind of gasket maker?

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[Twister]

I used rtv when i put mine back together.

 

[aspevacek]

When I assemble anything I generally put gaskets on DRY. If I do use anything it would be ultra grey but put on so think and rubbed into the gasket that it is see through. There are locations that require silicon and I will use it as you are supposed to in those locations. There is nothing worse then goin gin to do a job on something someone that was silicon happy was into first. Think about the fact if there is another issue down the road and you have to go back in that area you may have to clean up the mess the silicon left behind.

Silicon and sealants are just there to fill in imperfections in the gasket mating surfaces.

 

[eversmile]

Replacing the water pump is not too tough. The trickiest part for me was figuring out how to get the belts off and to get the fan off the water pump. It is reverse thread. As far as the belts go, I loosed more bolts that necessary but it worked out. For the fan clutch i used a big crescent wrench. I ended up loosening the 4 water pump bolts (holding the fan) and shoved a long screw driver in to give me some leverage to keep the thing from turning while trying to remove the fan. You will have to drain the antifreeze and there is a lot more in there than you think. Maybe 2 gallons? Drain out of the radiator, disconnect hoses, remove fan and fan shroud and you will have the room you need. I didn't pull the radiator but it will give more room if you do. I have a haynes book but it not as detailed as I would like. The water pump has like 10 or 12 screws holding it in place and I believe they are 10 mm. I think a couple of them are shorter than the rest so pay attention to that. I bought a rebuilt one from oreilly for like 25 bucks.

 

[Andy D]

I use Permatex Aviation forma gasket on my cooling system plumbing. and gaskets. I also use it on the bolts in case one goes into a water jacket. To the OP, I would allow a day ,better yet 2 days to do the job. Why so long? Go to Panama Ex P's thread on his B4000 rebuild. Take a look at all the stuff that has to be moved. Last water pump I did on a V8 took an afternoon. If you keep ahead of the coolant leak, you can buy some time. I drove my old BMW to work for a week with a leaking seal until Saturday when I could change the pump. It used a 1/2 gallon of water a trip. It was summer ,so I just carried lots of water. Buy a gallon of antifreeze and cut it in half with water. Carry that in the car. Check the coolant level before use.

 

[houlimon]

Sometimes it drips, sometimes it runs out. Sometimes it is just the gasket. There is also a weep hole that you can't see because the pulley is in the way.

I'd get the pulley off and take a better look.

I see the weep hole in my 84 2.8L v6 from the ground and mine seems to be leaking out of that lil hole. the leak started a day after I moved the truck to its new home. the leak is draining my radiator. ill be digging in it tomorrow