HELP! my water pump died on me and now I must replace it, question: dose anybody have any experences, step by step methods or the factory procedure for replacing a Water Pump on a LT1 engine? I will need all the above so your input will be greatly appericated. my new Water Pump will arrive 5\30, I have bought all new upper+lower radiator hoses, new thermostat + gasket so as you can see I am set as far as replacement equipment is concern I just need some direction and opinions from the forum members as to how to best proceed so that I can successfully complete this project also on a scale of 1 to 10,10 being the most difficult where would you rate Water Pump removal?
Will I need any special tools? And much time will this job consume?
thanks boonie

 

MIne was very straight forward. The only trick is that you have to go through the power steering pump pulley to get at one of the bolts. If I remember, one of the holes in the pulley is bigger than the others.

I is not a hard job. Just get the surfaces real clean so it doesn't leak. Also, protect your opti. Don't want that bugger to get wet.

There is a pin that goes through the timing chain cover and it is sealed with a seal. you might want to replace that while you are there. I didn't do mine and it might be a source of one of my oil leaks. I think there is a trick to changing it. It is not easy. Good luck.

If you buy a six pack, you'll have four left when you are done.

 

As Yellow95 said, it's not a painful job. Just take your time, and work with care. It's pretty self-evident what needs to be done. If you don't have a Factory Service Manual, you should buy one. You can buy them directly from Helm, Inc., which publishes them for GM.

Drain the cooling system.

Disconnect the Mass Air Flow sensor and remove the intake air snorkel with the MAF as an assembly.

Disconnect the Coolant Temperature Sensor, then remove the sensor from the water pump. Install the sensor in your new pump after it's bolted onto the engine.

You won't need the thermostat or thermostat gasket, if you bought an OEM water pump from your Chevy dealer. The new pump will come with a thermostat already installed in it.

Scrape the surfaces on the engine block clean of all gasket residue.

When you install the new pump, if you have trouble getting it to mate up flush with the front of the engine block on both sides, the splined drive shaft is probably not aligned with the splined input of the pump -- pull the pump back off, and turn the input shaft a few degrees and try installing it again. At worst, a few tries should get it to pop into place without resistance. Do NOT force the pump into place, or try to draw it up with the bolts.

Follow the cooling system refill procedure in the FSM, with particular attention to bleeding the air out of the system, and you should have no trouble. If you don't follow the procedure, you'll almost surely have overheating problems.

Be well,

SJW

 

As Yellow said you want to change the oil seal on the water pump drive shaft. There is a small slot on the edge of the seal. shuv the small screwdriver in and pop out. It is a tight one, took a couple of tries. Put the new seal in hand tight and true, get the right size socket,slightly smaller than the seal, and gently tap in (gently), stop when flush. It is $8 at your local dealer GM discount store.