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Water Pump Replacement Tips Wanted

RonnieH

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 3, 2002
Messages
85
Location
Henrico, NC
Corvette
2012 Crystal Red Metallic
I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to replace the water pump ('90 coupe) soon - there is some tell-tale rattling which appears to be coming from the pump itself and a slight loss of coolant over time. There is no reason to suspect cracked head gasket or other leaks as I never see any signs of leakage when the car sits in the garage. I'm going to check it w/ a stethoscope and pressurize the system to be sure it is in fact the w.p. Since it pretty much sits in the garage during winter, I have time to play with it. While changing out the pump, will change hoses and remove the radiator for cleaning as well.

My question- since many of you have already replaced your w.p.'s, are there any gotcha's or ez removal/installation tips you've discovered? Are there any good "how to" links you're familiar with? I found one article from Corvette Fever magazine which seems to be pretty good, but I was wondering if there are others you'd recommend.

Thanks in advance for any help/guidance.
 
You have the L98 so you don't have to worry about washing out the optispark when you pull the pump. It's a pretty straight forward job, performed on millions of GenI SBCs.

I'm sure you know this already but since you intend to remove the radiator you might as well do that first to give yourself more room to work.
 
Go For It!

Not too bad a project. May I recommend purchasing an AC Delco water pump from thepartsladi on ebay. I got mine for $139. If you do nothing else, make sure you replace the lower radiator hose. I can't see how that's done without the water pump being off the car. I believe the AC compressor and refrigerant lines were in the way of some fasteners. I took the opportunity to do some serious cleaning of the front of the engine and the front suspension. Good Luck!
 
You may want to clean off the front of the engine before you start this job, makes it so much more pleasant to work on. I just spray on some simple green, let it sit for awhile, then spray it off again. I agree about changing out the lower radiator hose, might as well as long as you're in there. You may want to put new o-rings on the fuel line fittings, which you have to remove in order to remove the a/c compressor bracket. Be sure to put thread sealant on the bolts. You may want to clean up the bolt holes as well as wire-brush the bolt threads, I just put mine in a vise and used a dremel with a wire brush attachment.

I tend to take a "might as well" approach whenever doing anything like this on my car, for example as long as you have to remove the serp belt, might as well put on a new one. Might as well put in a new thermostat too, and new upper radiator hose, it buys peace of mind. Also, if you've never pulled & cleaned your radiator, this is the perfect time to do it, just blow out the cooling fins with a garden hose to get all the junk out of there, and clean the fan shroud, your car will run cooler because more air can move through.

This is a fairly easy job, but lots of stuff has to come off the front of the engine so take your time.
 
I recommend purchasing an AC Delco water pump
Yup. Get new or as a minimum, get remanufactured, not rebuilt. High flow pumps are probably a waste of cash and may cause cooling problems.
 
Water Pump Replacement

Thanks to everyone who replied. Some of the things I had already thought about and planned on doing, some of them I overlooked. Great thought about replacing the serpentine belt. As stated in one reply, this is a great opportunity for a couple of the "might as well" items while I am resolving the original problem and will save myself downtime and extra work in the future.

Happy Holidays to all!
 
If you've got a camera,take LOTS of pictures. Once all that stuff is off............:)Doug
 

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