Quick Question? LOL

[jabberman]

My Car has been flirting with the 210 mark in Traffic for the Past couple of Months.....so i look in the Radiator and My Coolant was Basically sludge...Took it to pep Boys and Told them to Do a Flush....45 minutes the Mechanic comes back to tell me that the It needs....

PARTS
Auto belt Tensioner-$80.49
Belt Tensioner Pulley-$27.49
Thermostat-$10.49
Thermostat Housing gasket-$3.48

LABOR
Remove and replace thermostat-$56.70
Remove and replace Serpentine Belt Idler Pulley-$44.50
Remove and replace Serpentine Belt Tensioner-$133.50
:eek::bs:


He says that Its getting hot because the Belt is not Staying on track Therefore Not Turning the Water Pump??

I tell them to just do the Flush and i can Do all of that other stuff on my Own Saturday...

The Flush that they do is Pressurized with a machine...I had a Feeling that some problems or Leaks were going to show up......Sure enough today i noticed that there is a Drip behind where the Water Pump is Located! Should i just Replace The Pump to play it Safe....or could it be something else.


P.s. Can You replace a Water Pump without Draining the Coolant? ANd if i have to Drain the Coolant....Where should i Drain it from? Petcock? Plugs in the Block?

Any Help is Greatly Appreciated. thx

[cam98aro]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

drain it from the petcock, its the lowest point, but it will still pour out when changing the water pump

and DO NOT listen to these guys, they make up fake problems.. check it all out on your own

also, where is this drip at.. at the gasket for the water pump to engine, or the gasket on the water pump itself? it may be coming out of your weep hole which means new water pump for you

[97rs4life]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

yea if coming from the weep hole get a new pump.

If it was sludge for some time it wouldn't hurt doing the thermo. Get a clean one in there or take yours out and clean it to make sure nothing sticks

[jabberman]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

If you look at it from the Front...its kinda in the right top corner behind the Pully...When you drain it from the Petcock what kind of percentage of the Fluid does it take out 75%? 80%? 100%?

[Archer]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

you can kinda look at it this way. 25% stays in the block, and another 75% stays in the hoses, rad, and pump. so once you drain the system throught he petcock, you'll have appx 50% in the engine, and once you remove the pump, you'll loose appx 25% of fluids because there are some fluids in the intake manifold.

remember when you fill it back up, you'll have alot of air in the system, follow some of the refill instrucs and you'll see how to bleed the system and you should be fine. These cars run a little hot as it is...

Good luck with the repair.
Archer

[Mr. Logger]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

If you look at it from the Front...its kinda in the right top corner behind the Pulley...When you drain it from the Petcock what kind of percentage of the Fluid does it take out 75%? 80%? 100%?

This is where mine was leaking from. Turned out being the little plastic elbow everyone loves so much.

[jabberman]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

Is there supposed to be a Rubber piece around the Thermostat? Is that what the O-Ring is?

[david602]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

yes is just a seal.

[jabberman]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

Because the one I bought from autozone didnt come with 1 so i asked them if they are supposed to include 1 and he said no that it comes seperately. They didnt have any Fel Pro O-rings in stock so am i supposed to buy that?

[jabberman]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

They say to drain the Coolant also from the Plug on the bottom of the Engine Block.(is there more than 1 plug?) Is that also known as the Knock Sensor? Where is it located? Any pics of it?

[3.4 slow to go]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

where the kanock sensor goes, is sealed off from engine internals. The little hose bhind the w/p & the block is the bypass hose, but when it goes, you'll really know.

thermostat gets an o-ring (iirc), and they usually sell them seperatley (all about the $$$), as far as drainign the coolant for a waterpump change.....(what I've done in past engines) drain rad until teh level is below where the lower rad hose connects to the water pump, disconnect from w/p & secure out of way w/cover on over open end. When removing w/p (w/heater hoses taken care of) be careful as to how much force is used, as the part by the heater hoses tends to crack durring the operation.

[IceHammer]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

As far as the belt and tensioner pulley, replace them yourself. It is a very easy bolt on procedure for the pulley and the belt has directions right there on the plastic piece over the radiator. The thermostat is also very easy to change, the bolts are a litte tough to get to, but it is definitely not worth the money to have a mechanic perform those tasks.

[FadeToBlak121]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

if it looks like your waterpump is going bad, just replace it now. its a real cheap part and super easy fix.

[jabberman]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

Im almost finished...I Replaced the water pump and gasket also put some water proof RTV sealant on both sides of the Gasket....And i Replaced the Thermostat, O-Ring and Gasket and i also put some RTV sealant on both sides of the Gasket.

all i need to do is fill it with coolant....Since i drained it from the petcock alot of coolant was still in the Block when i was taking off the Water Pump. Big Mess. :)

If i turn on the Car for a couple of seconds(with the Petcock open) will the rest of the Coolant come out? so i can fill it with New Coolant.

[IceHammer]

Re: Quick Question? LOL

I'm not an expert on auto water pumps so this may be irrelevant, but I'd guess that running it to expel coolant would be a poor choice because generally you don't want pumps to get cavitation, which will happen if it doesn't get steady input of coolant. Could be part of the reason that its common to flush coolant rather than drain and replace.