Water Pump

[96SupremeCutty]

I'm changing the water pump in my '96 3100. I'm assuming that there is a special tool(hopefully one that AutoZone has) to let you unbolt the pulley from the pump. (Or should I have loosened those bolts before I took the belt off?)

My real question is: The coolant pressure valve on the left side of the engine above the Water Pump is broken. How would I go about replacing that?

Off Topic: I like the new site, I guess I should have visited a little more often, and it may not have been such a shock to me. . .

[geoffinbc]

No just unbolt the pulley from the pump. You may need to use an impact gun then you can hold the pulley and the impact will quickly shock the bolts loose so the pulley cannot rotate. This is the same method used to remove the large nut from an alternator.

If you broke the metal cooling pipe either hit up a used source or buy one from a dealership.

[96SupremeCutty]

Hmmm. .. I don't have an impact gun. I'll have to see if I can borrow one. Anyone else have any other suggestions?

The pipe itself isn't broken, just the little pressure valve at the top. . . I guess your advice still applies, though. Thanks. for the response.

[RidgeRunner]

I put a wrench on another pulley bolt, wedged it by a third bolt, then turned the first one. I found that leaving the belt on didn't help much, it just slips.

[96SupremeCutty]

I put a wrench on another pulley bolt, wedged it by a third bolt, then turned the first one. I found that leaving the belt on didn't help much, it just slips.

Yeah, that's what I ended up doing. The bolts weren't on very tight at all, it was just difficult to get them to actually turn.

I am guessing that even though my haynes manual doesn't mention it at all, I do need to use gasket sealer on the gasket. Correct?

Thanks for the help.

[RidgeRunner]

Yeah, permatex would be a good thing.

[96SupremeCutty]

Yeah. . . thought so. All done now. Thanks for the help. Taking her out for a test ride right now.

[96SupremeCutty]

On the Test Ride the other night. . .

First, I let it idle a while and watch the temp closely. Nothin' happens. Then, I'm drivin' towards town, and everything is goin' fine and the temp shoots all the way up after about 5 minutes of driving. I pull over, and pop the hood no smoke or anything, but I hear a sound almost like boiling water, or water draining in a pipe. Right after that, there was a little smoke from the area of the radiator cap, but not a lot. The temp drops down relatively quickly, and I start it back up and drive around for a while temp stays where it usually rests. Am I correct in assuming that it was probably coolant that didn't get circulated when it was idling? Is there something else I should be worried about? Next time I'm off work before they close, I'm going to take it to AutoZone to see if they can pressure test the Radiator Cap. I've seen smoke periodically from the front passenger side of the hood, but I had assumed that it was just coolant burning from where the water pump had been leaking. Any Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Maybe it was just burning coolant off the exhaust manifold.

IF it was real hot real fast maybe you had air in the system.. did you bleed it properly?

[geoffinbc]

Yup air in the system. The ideal way is to vacuum fill it. But with a do it yourselfer that is usually not the case. You just have to wait till all the air is purged and be sure to keep it topped up.

[96SupremeCutty]

Yeah. . . I didn't do that. . . I tried to bleed it as best as I knew how. . . I opend the one air bleed vent that is operational(See my original post as to why the other isn't) when refilling the radiator, and let the car idle for quite a while idle for quite a while, so it was just a bit of a shock to me when that happened. But, all is well now. No more leaks, and car runs cool as ever. Thanks for the help!

[quaddriver]

Yeah. . . I didn't do that. . . I tried to bleed it as best as I knew how. . . I opend the one air bleed vent that is operational(See my original post as to why the other isn't) when refilling the radiator, and let the car idle for quite a while idle for quite a while, so it was just a bit of a shock to me when that happened. But, all is well now. No more leaks, and car runs cool as ever. Thanks for the help!

you need to open all the bleed screws as you fill it to purge air, then let the topmost screw open as u first start it, and keep pouring until it bubbles.