Thread: water-pump's possibly going out?

I recently have new green coolant instead of the dex-crap and using a drilled 180* t-stat. on the freeway if I do a few minimal spirited driving, not100% throttle but upwards to 75%, my ect would spike as much as 204*F along with the trans fluid(I run a gm auxiliary trans-cooler after the radiator) on a 90+ degree day. Is that normal or is my water-pump not keeping up the cooling process? I do have my fans on at high speed(speed 2) as well. the water-pump’s OEM and the cars at ~149K miles. FWIW on a normal driving around, the ect is around 185-187*F in 85+ degree temps

What’s the correct part number for the water-pump on rock auto? Their site has ACDELCO Part # 252693 for both 2 and 4 door. Also I did a search on here and found no write-up available for installing a water-pump. Anyone care to give me a (semi)-detailed instructions on the amount of work im looking at? Thanks in advance!!

I'm not sure what Rock auto is charging but I have a 33K mile OEM WO with new gasket for $30 shipped.

Install is pretty easy really:

loosen 4 bolts on WP pulley
remove accessory belt
remove WP pulley
remove 2 power steering pump bolts - 1 at 12 and the other at 6:00 positions, they are 13mm
remove WP bolts - 13 and 10mm
scrape ALL old gasket material off - check again - re check -and check again you got it all
I apply a very thin layer ot RTV to the engine side of the gasket and the water pump
Install all bolts using thread sealer. Permatex makes a good high temp seal in a small white tube
Finish installing everything else in reverse
Remove T-stat housing and T-stat
Fill LIM with coolant/water mix
Reinstall T-stat and housing
Start car and let run until warm
Let sit for 1 hour
remove radiator cap and top off with coolant/water mix
drive car until warm and repeat until radiator stays full

good to know, thanks vinnie, i should drain the coolant b4 taking off parts for the waterpump right

lol ok, thanks...does it sound like it needs replaced soon though? i know its a good idea to do so especially on the mileage its running on.

It will drain wen you remove it Just put a pan down there.

yea i know it'll drain when i remove :-P....just wondering if doing it that way would be better/cleaner or if i should drain via the drain cock down by the radiator or both?

hmm ic....i tried to clean the dex-cool out as much as i could. the coolant overflow tank, thats another story as i tried to clean it spotless but couldnt get into the corners with a garden hose. also my OEM radiator fins do have small dents since it is 148K. possibly time to upgrade or replace the radiator instead or just do both? lol....

any torque specs on tightening the WP?

I can't say off hand but I would guess the smaller bolts are only 10-12lbs and the larger are 15-18lbs. Not too tight.

I found this in the how-to section:

Water Pump Bolt
15 N·m + 80°
11 lb ft + 80°

Water Pump Pulley Bolt
13 N·m
116 lb in


I was pretty close

will i just hand tightened them to the point it felt like not going further. when i broke the bolts loose b4 it was really easy to break the 13mm bolts, but the 10mm needed a tad bit more force. i applied teflon paste on all the bolts, even teh 10mm as well, even though i noticed the 13mm were the only ones covered in white crusty old teflon paste.

Smart move! Good job.

i ran ot of day light so i'll aim to finish the install tomorrow after i get off work. just need to reinstall the power steering pump, WP pulley, s/c oversized pulley, belts then as directed, pull the t-stat housing and t-stat and pour coolant in and tighten the t-stat housing up(hopefully the gasket and o-ring wont bust on me) and start the car up til warm and then turn off and let sit, etc etc.

also i looked over the old WP and it spun fine....now i dont know if the overheating is from the old WP, perhaps the radiator is the problem? i noticed someof the fins on it are a bit bent and such. i've been using the prestoen green stuff, so i dont know what else 'could' be the problem if the new WP doesnt do the trick. another possibility is a bad t-stat? im using a drilled 180* t-stat FWIW.

Did you mix that green with what was already in there? You probably made sludge if you did.

waterpump install went successful, thanks guys and especially vinniegtp for the cliff-note step by step lol.....bled the coolant via the bleeder and swapped the t-stat from the drilled 180 to a non-drilled and temps ranged in the 177* at idle. havent driven it yet as well as doing some spirited driving yet, but will soon sometime this week(going to cecil this friday hopefully).

edit-i tried to wash all of the dex-cool out last summer as much asi could via garden hose. i filled the radiator with water and let the car idle for a bit to let the water circulate around in the radiator and block then flushed it again then filled it with the green stuff

You're very welcome. I'm glad it all worked out. I like being able to help.

Ok, then you should be ok af far as mixing coolant goes.