EggXpert

I am not a grease monkey.  I would say it's a strech even to label me as lubricant squirrel, but I can do the most basic of tasks on an automobile myself - change the oil and filter, keep the fluids up, change the plugs, fill the tank (I hope that last one applies to at least 99% of the general public), etc...  Coming home from a friend's house the other day, my check engine light popped on, and being the American male that I am, I popped the hood once I got home to figure out what the problem was.  I didn't see or hear anything immediately, but I noticed my coolant was extremely low, and I had just topped it off before coming home from school for break.

My immediate conclusion was that my water pump was leaking (my belt had been intermittently squeaky for some time too).  I had my friend (who swings more wrenches than I) check it out, and he arrived at the same conjecture.  At that point, my thought was, "I need to take the Jeep to a mechanic for a new water pump."  My friend, whom we shall henceforth refer to as "The Optimistic One," was thinking something rather different - "We'll buy and install a new water pump in his Jeep."  So off we go to the auto parts store for a new water pump...

Once we have the parts - a new water pump and gasket - and TOO explains the procedure to me, the task doesn't seem nearly as daunting.  We had to pull out a fan guard and an electric fan from behind the radiator for some elbow room, and then loosen the belt tensioner and remove the serpentine belt.  After that, the pulley on the water pump needed to be taken off, and then the old water pump itself could be unbolted from the front of the engine block.

The fan guard and electric fan came out with no problems.  The belt was a cinch to take out as well, but it's worth mentioning that my tensioner was manual.  For the less than automotively inclined among us, the sole purpose of the belt tensioner is to keep tension in the belt (well I'll be) such that it doesn't come flying off when the engine is running.  Most vehicles these days have automatic tensioners - a strong spring holds the pulley tight against the belt.  My Jeep happens to have a manual one, the pulley being attached to a long threaded bolt which moves it in and out much the same way a vice grip operates.

So the belt is off, and now it's time to get the pulley (the part that the belt spins) off of the water pump.  The trick here is that the entire pulley "assembly" spins freely, making it very difficult to unscrew any of the bolts...  Okay, so, I replace the belt and tensioner, thinking the belt will provide enough grip to hold the pulley still while I unbolt it from the pump.  Unfortunately, the bolts are on so tight, that cranking on them with the belt back in place simply rotates the belts and all the other pulleys it's attached to.  I end up using a wrench to brace one of the other bolts while I unscrew, but that only gets three of the four bolts off, leaving me nothing to brace with while I get out the fourth bolt.  Here I must have lucked out, as simply attempting to unscrew the final bolt yielded success - it must have been the one loose enough for the belt to hold things still.

Alright, back off comes the belt.  Time to unbolt the old water pump.  The bolts come out easy enough, and sure as day, theres a smear of coolant coming from the bottom of it.  It won't come off the block by hand, so I have to bring out a precision adjustment device (read:  a hammer) to tap it off.  Ah, but I haven't yet drained the coolant from the radiator...  Two gallons of antifreeze come gushing out from the front of my engine block, drenching the crankshaft pulley and half of the belt.  Awesome.

Now to detach the hoses from the pump.  The upper hose from the resivoir is threaded in, so that won't be much of a problem, but the lower hose is secured with a clip, and it's nearly impossible to maneuver a set of pliers such that both tabs to open the clip can be gripped.  Nearly impossible indeed, but a half hour of determination pays off, and the lower hose finally relinquishes its death grip from the water pump.  By this point, we've been working for about four or five hours - all that's left to do (so we think) is slap on the new pump, put the belt back on, and throw the fan stuff back in.  How silly of us.

There's a seal between the engine block and the water pump (called a gasket) that prevents any coolant from leaking out between the two components.  The old gasket had been there for so long, that it had decided to meld with the engine block in some sort of unholy amalgamation of rubber and steel, and it needed to be removed completely before putting on the new gasket and water pump so that a proper seal would be formed.  About the only devices available for the task were a razor blade and a screwdriver, so the best attempt was made.  It wasn't good enough.

Upon putting on the new pump, bolting the pulley on (which was just as painful as taking it off), putting the belt back on, and starting the engine, coolant can be seen bubbling out around the seal.  Not enough of the old gasket was removed, and since the new gasket has been "tainted" already, I need to buy a brand new gasket to install.  It's about 8pm Sunday though, and none of the auto parts stores are open anymore.  Guess I'm carpooling to work tomorrow.

Monday afternoon, hit the parts store for a new gasket - they don't have the one I need in stock.  The Jeep sits in TOO's carport for another night.

Tuesday evening.  I pick up the new gasket, some RTV sealant for just such an application (I'm making dang sure this time), and a wire brush to get that decrepit barnacle of a gasket off.  It takes an hour and a half of brushing and scraping with a putty knife, but the old seal is finally cleaned off, and a nice smooth engine block awaits the installation of a new gasket and water pump.

On goes the water pump and gasket, lined with a nice bead of RTV.  On goes the pulley (TOO had the good foresight to grab a pair of vice-grips, making this part much easier than before), on goes the belt (I'd bought a new one just for kicks)...  Can't start the engine because the RTV takes a day to completely set.  Another night in the carport for Jeepy.

Wednesday evening.  Start her up, and she purrs like a kitten.  No leaking coolant!  Off I go to a New Year's Eve party, happily unaware...

2am Thursday I head home, and the Jeep squeals the whole way.  Apparently I didn't get the new belt on tight enough (had I an automatic tensioner, I wouldn't have such a problem).  Halfway home, my voltmeter pegs out on the low side.  Spectacular.  But, there's nothing to do but hope the Jeep will get me home, which she does.

Thursday afternoon, I pop the hood to tighten the belt, but Dad doesn't have a wrench the right size to loosen the bolt on the tensioner.  So, I wait for TOO to get home from his activities, and hope the Jeep will start so I can take it over to his place.  It does, and I get the belt tightened - no more squeak, and the battery's fine (the belt must have been slipping on the alternator).

So I have a new water pump and a new belt successfully installed, a two to three hour job which took me four days.  Thing is, my check engine light is still on, and there's a chance I'm still losing coolant somewhere (the level in the resivoir has been doing funny things, and there's a wet spot on my engine shroud, but it may just be an oily spot that won't dry).  I think I'm hitting the mechanic next weekend...