82,000 miles...exactly-- KAYBOOOOOOM!

[jnaut]

So, as some of you may know, I had posted a thread indicating my water pump was a'goin' and I was planning to change it the weekend of the 12th. Whelp, she didn't make it. She's been making more and more disturbing noises and today as I was driving, I got three dings, no dash lights, looked down- needle all the way to the H on the temperature.

Immediately pulled over, idled it for about a minute, then cut the engine. Had a smell of coolant, popped the hood and BOO and YA, coolant all over the engine. Bearing finally, totally blew in the KJ waterpump.

The good news was that my friend was following me in his rig and we were heading up to do a little shooting, so we were armed to the teeth. So had any one stepped to us, they'd a reckanized! Respect. Dirt naps.

But seriously. Had her towed home and started removing the old pump. I have a chilton's manual which is generally pretty good, but I found the instructions for pump removal... puzzling.

Says to remove fan shroud. After studying the area in front of the water pump, I didn't see any reason to remove the fan shroud. Would have maybe given me an extra inch or two of room, but I didn't really seem to need it, so I decided to forego shroud removal.

After removing the timing belt, it suggests you remove the pump pulley. I believe someone had told me that removing the pulley was unnecessary. So I ignored that. However, nowhere in the instructions did it say to remove the idler pulley, except on the 2.4l. Yet in the picture, clearly the idler pulley had been removed. It's impossible to get to the #8 housing bolt with the idler pulley in place. So after trying to get that summb*tch off with a wrench and my bare hands, I realized I wasn't man enough, so I got out the breaker bar. Holy leveraged-buyouts, batman, that thing was torqued on hard.

When I replace the idler, does anyone know what the torque specification is for that is?

 

[Corwyyn]

FSM for both '03 and '05 show 30 ft-lbs for the torque. They also mention that there is an alignment slot that needs to be lined up properly to the mounting bolt - not sure what it looks like since I haven't had my tensioner off but just wanted to include the info. On the fan shroud removal it looks like that is needed if you have the tow package with the viscous fan installed; if you have just the electric fan on the radiator and enough room to remove/install the pump I'd say you can skip that step.

 

[jnaut]

FSM for both '03 and '05 show 30 ft-lbs for the torque. They also mention that there is an alignment slot that needs to be lined up properly to the mounting bolt - not sure what it looks like since I haven't had my tensioner off but just wanted to include the info. On the fan shroud removal it looks like that is needed if you have the tow package with the viscous fan installed; if you have just the electric fan on the radiator and enough room to remove/install the pump I'd say you can skip that step.

Thanks, Corwyyn... I note you follow up by mentioning the tensioner... I removed the idler pulley-- the tensioner's still on. You think there'd be an alignment slot with that? I'll look closely.

30ft lbs, huh? Given that I used a 4' breaker bar and it didn't come off easily, methinks the factory put that puppy on with a little more than 30 lbs. Maybe it tightens up over time? Anyway, thanks and I'll check for that alignment slot when I put her back on.

 

[Corwyyn]

Thanks, Corwyyn... I note you follow up by mentioning the tensioner... I removed the idler pulley-- the tensioner's still on. You think there'd be an alignment slot with that? I'll look closely.

30ft lbs, huh? Given that I used a 4' breaker bar and it didn't come off easily, methinks the factory put that puppy on with a little more than 30 lbs. Maybe it tightens up over time? Anyway, thanks and I'll check for that alignment slot when I put her back on.

OK I thought you had removed the whole assembly. For the idler pulley it gives a torque of 45 ft-lbs and there should be no alignment marks, just put it in the hole and tighten away

 

[tjkj2002]

30ft lbs, huh? Given that I used a 4' breaker bar and it didn't come off easily, methinks the factory put that puppy on with a little more than 30 lbs. Maybe it tightens up over time? Anyway, thanks and I'll check for that alignment slot when I put her back on.

Corrosion and thread locker,remember it's a steel bolt threaded into aluminum and should only be removed when cold.

 

[jnaut]

Corrosion and thread locker,remember it's a steel bolt threaded into aluminum and should only be removed when cold.

Thanks for that tip, I let the engine generally cool off when I'm working on it. It was dead cold when I started with the water pump.

Corrosion and threadlocker? I put the rig back together today and torqued to 35 lbs 'cause 30 seemed to low.

But I can pull it off and put that stuff on there. Can you recommend brand for corrosion and thread locker? I don't know what this product is. I only know about anti-seize compounds.

Edit: You're not talking about Loctite, are you?

 

[Corwyyn]

I think he was implying that they put thread locker on at the factory, and then corrosion just from general exposure to the elements (the salt air up your way probably helped with that). I'd back it off and re-torque to 45, some new thread-lock like the blue loctite wouldn't hurt.

 

[jnaut]

I think he was implying that they put thread locker on at the factory, and then corrosion just from general exposure to the elements (the salt air up your way probably helped with that). I'd back it off and re-torque to 45, some new thread-lock like the blue loctite wouldn't hurt.

Well the red loctite is an anti-corrosion and threadlocker compound. What about the red LocTite?

 

[Mangate]

I've heard it said that once you have removed the fan belt you need to replace the tensioner too.

 

[tjkj2002]

I've heard it said that once you have removed the fan belt you need to replace the tensioner too.

Not exactly.

You should always replace the tensioner when replacing the serp belt as the tensioner wears out also.

 

[cuatroXcuatro]

It's called electrolytic corrosion, typical between dissimilar materials like steel and aluminum, and salt to speed the process. I can remember trying to remove an aluminum rear wheel from a vehicle with 15 years on salt-laden Ontario roads and there was no way it was coming off.

 

[jnaut]

It's called electrolytic corrosion, typical between dissimilar materials like steel and aluminum, and salt to speed the process. I can remember trying to remove an aluminum rear wheel from a vehicle with 15 years on salt-laden Ontario roads and there was no way it was coming off.

Got ya... but anyone got a brand? I just read that the red loctite is 'permanent' ie, it takes heat to remove it. But again, is blue Loctite what I want, or is there a specific corrosion/threadlocker that would be recommended for that bolt?

 

[tjkj2002]

Got ya... but anyone got a brand? I just read that the red loctite is 'permanent' ie, it takes heat to remove it. But again, is blue Loctite what I want, or is there a specific corrosion/threadlocker that would be recommended for that bolt?

None,just tighten it and forget it.The "green" Locktite is the permanent stuff that needs to be heated to 600 degrees to loosen.

 

[belvedere]

I'd use blue, personally.
Purple=low strength
Blue=medium strength
Green=medium strength, but made to be applied to threads that have already been assembled (it penetrates)
Red=high strength