Thread: How to replace a water pump (3.8L)

Here's the BillBoost method for beginners.

* Items that can be skipped, however doing these will give you tons of room. This is good for first timers or those that are not yet fully comfortable working in tighter areas.

1. Disconnect negative battery cable
2. Drain coolant
3. Remove two 10mm quick nuts holding the overflow tank if it's on the strut tower (99+), lay it on radiator support.
4. Remove belt(s) (15mm)
5*. Unbolt alternator and lay back on engine (no need to disconnect electrical)
6*. Remove 3 bolts (either 13mm or 15mm) holding alt tensioner bracket onto motor and wiggle carefully to not hurt the coolant elbows. Lay on cowl if you leave the hoses attached.


7*. If NA, remove two 15mm bolts/nuts and lay coils/icm bracket on front of motor.
8. Going through the ps pump pulley at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock remove the 2 13mm bolts. I leave them in the pump and lower it down to let it rest on the trans.
9. Remove the 4 8mm bolts on the waterpump pulley. You can either loosen them slightly when the belt is on, or you can use a screwdriver positioned like the picture to hold the pulley while you break all the bolts free, then remove them all.


10. Remove the 4 13mm bolts and 4 10mm bolts holding the water pump. Tap gently to free it up.


11. Clean the gasket surface.


12. The new gasket and pump should now be bolted in place. The manual does not suggest RTV and I do not either. However some decide to use it. If you do, use it very sparingly and remember if you ever have to do another water pump, you'll have to clean that off as well.

13. Torque the bolts as follows:
13mm bolts: 13 ft lbs
10mm bolts: 10 ft lbs

14. Reinstall pulley for ps pump
15. Reinstall PS pump. I find that putting the socket on the upper bolt and looking straight down, you can see the hole and line it up easy. Then I ensure the lower bolt is not sticking out the back of the pump and wiggle the bottom of the pump toward the crank pulley, with a socket on the lower bolt, you'll feel it find the hole and presto, easy ps pump.
16. Alt tensioner bracket, Alt, coil pack and coolant overflow get reinstalled.

People that haven't done a lot of work can benefit from some pictures and order of operations.

Notice how I didn't start out with, remove radiator cap and throw across street into farmers field.

Thanks Bill.

only thing i dont see listed is if supercharged you need to take the sc belt idler pulley off. its a t55 or 15 mm on some cars.


unless i just flat out failed to see it. you know how i read these days.......

Nope..you nailed it Scott.... unless you just sneak on past it like I do.

I've also put a round cut into it. That way it's not in the way.

i just take the pulley off, not its pedestal.

Ped is still in the way

not if you do like you said and wiggle it past the lip there. mine came out, will little to no effort. other then the surprise 6 block walk for a t55 socket lol

Please stop helping people with your well-thought-out and detailed write-ups.

I just did a water pump and power steering pump on my car two days ago.

Scotty is right, for S/C cars, you need to remove the idler pulley (T55, I think) but the pedestal is "not" in the way. Makes things a bit more difficult, but you can sneak past it with a little wiggling and trying to tilt the bolt away from it.

- As a side note, I used NO RTV/Silicone on any of the water pump bolts, nor on the water pump gasket/gasket surface. (Now-a-days, a new water pump comes with a metal gasket, pretty nifty). I only use Copper RTV on the coolant elbows.

you have air in the heater core. take both hoses off the alt bracket, then flush one hose with a garden hose. put the hoses back on and enjoy the heat.

It took my GP over an hour to bleed air out of the system.......Bill helped ease my frustration.