Water pump is out!
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 173
Likes: 0
From: Mustang Oklahoma
Water pump is out!
What a pain! Fortunately, it wasn't quite as bad as I made it out to be in my head.
Curiously, I'm not sure if it was leaking from the weep hole or not. The inlet/outlet sides of the pump are soaked on the bottom, but not the weep hole so much. I'm sure it's dried some though, and that is evident.
The Opti appears to be dry as well. A little bit of grease/grime on it, but overall from an outward appearance, it doesn't look to be cooland soaked. The plug wires at the Opti have a little bit of coolant on them, but that's probably from what leaked as I was removing the water pump.
Project is in progress. I wanted to get the car tore apart before I decided what all to replace. I guess I should go ahead and do the plug wires at a minimum, but I just can't convince myself to do the Opti yet if it's still working. That's probably foolish talk I know.
Pictures and updates to come. Now to go about the fun task of removing the gasket material from the block. Not looking forward to that at all. Argh what to do with the rest of it.
Curiously, I'm not sure if it was leaking from the weep hole or not. The inlet/outlet sides of the pump are soaked on the bottom, but not the weep hole so much. I'm sure it's dried some though, and that is evident.
The Opti appears to be dry as well. A little bit of grease/grime on it, but overall from an outward appearance, it doesn't look to be cooland soaked. The plug wires at the Opti have a little bit of coolant on them, but that's probably from what leaked as I was removing the water pump.
Project is in progress. I wanted to get the car tore apart before I decided what all to replace. I guess I should go ahead and do the plug wires at a minimum, but I just can't convince myself to do the Opti yet if it's still working. That's probably foolish talk I know.
Pictures and updates to come. Now to go about the fun task of removing the gasket material from the block. Not looking forward to that at all. Argh what to do with the rest of it.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 12,261
Likes: 85
From: O'Fallon Missouri
FYI: Put a light coat of RTV sealant on each side of the water pump's new gaskets. It'll make removing the gaskets much easier next time.
-Mike
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 10,383
Likes: 4
I stuffed blue shop towels into the block and used a 3M Scotch Brite pad to get the old off and the surface was shiney and smooth.
Indeed the RTV is the ticket if nothing else it will hold the new gasket in place durring reassembly.
I treat it like contact cement in that I put some on the pump thin and smooth then some on the pump side of the gasket and let them start to get tacky before mating them to each other. Then when I'm ready to put the pump on I put some on the block and the block side of the gasket.
Oh yeah I had to use sandpaper I think 800 grit to remove small burs from the new pump so that it would be as smooth as the block.
I kept the old pump because "someday" I might make it into an electric.
While you're in there you may wish to consider plugs and wires.
Indeed the RTV is the ticket if nothing else it will hold the new gasket in place durring reassembly.
I treat it like contact cement in that I put some on the pump thin and smooth then some on the pump side of the gasket and let them start to get tacky before mating them to each other. Then when I'm ready to put the pump on I put some on the block and the block side of the gasket.
Oh yeah I had to use sandpaper I think 800 grit to remove small burs from the new pump so that it would be as smooth as the block.
I kept the old pump because "someday" I might make it into an electric.
While you're in there you may wish to consider plugs and wires.
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,793
Likes: 9
From: VA
If that's an original 94 opti you should think again about replacement. Its exterior appearance means nothing.
At the very least pull it off and open it up. You will find lots of rust.
Of course, to do that you will have to do battle with the balancer. If you think the WP was a problem...
At the very least pull it off and open it up. You will find lots of rust.
Of course, to do that you will have to do battle with the balancer. If you think the WP was a problem...
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,238
Likes: 10
From: College Station TX
If that's an original 94 opti you should think again about replacement. Its exterior appearance means nothing.
At the very least pull it off and open it up. You will find lots of rust.
Of course, to do that you will have to do battle with the balancer. If you think the WP was a problem...
At the very least pull it off and open it up. You will find lots of rust.
Of course, to do that you will have to do battle with the balancer. If you think the WP was a problem...
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 173
Likes: 0
From: Mustang Oklahoma
Well, I finally got the Opti out. It wasn't too bad either.
I'm going to dismantle it tomorrow and have a look see. One thing that I find curious. The back of mine doesn't look like the others I've seen pictured here. The others appear to have rounded openings at 120 degrees apart.
Mine is basically one large circle, with a keyed slot at the top. Is this specific to the early Opti or am I just the first one to make mention of it being different?
Thanks gang! I'll post pics tomorrow.
I'm going to dismantle it tomorrow and have a look see. One thing that I find curious. The back of mine doesn't look like the others I've seen pictured here. The others appear to have rounded openings at 120 degrees apart.
Mine is basically one large circle, with a keyed slot at the top. Is this specific to the early Opti or am I just the first one to make mention of it being different?
Thanks gang! I'll post pics tomorrow.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 12,261
Likes: 85
From: O'Fallon Missouri
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Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 173
Likes: 0
From: Mustang Oklahoma
Something else I noticed that dawned on me this morning. When I pulled the Opti, the drivegear stayed in the motor. When I reinstall, should i pull the drivegear and put it in the Opti prior to installation, or does it matter?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 173
Likes: 0
From: Mustang Oklahoma
I'm just going to beat my head on something now.
After painstakingly putting the car back together, I fired it up and the MSD/plugs/wires are on right, as the car sounds great.
The bad news? The damn new water pump is leaking! I'm not sure where from yet. I had hell with the gaskets, so I'm assuming (hoping) that's it and will be a relatively simple fix.
Argh! At least this time it won't take me as long to dismantle the car.
After painstakingly putting the car back together, I fired it up and the MSD/plugs/wires are on right, as the car sounds great.
The bad news? The damn new water pump is leaking! I'm not sure where from yet. I had hell with the gaskets, so I'm assuming (hoping) that's it and will be a relatively simple fix.
Argh! At least this time it won't take me as long to dismantle the car.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 2,510
Likes: 4
From: Austin Texas
I'm just going to beat my head on something now.
After painstakingly putting the car back together, I fired it up and the MSD/plugs/wires are on right, as the car sounds great.
The bad news? The damn new water pump is leaking! I'm not sure where from yet. I had hell with the gaskets, so I'm assuming (hoping) that's it and will be a relatively simple fix.
Argh! At least this time it won't take me as long to dismantle the car.
After painstakingly putting the car back together, I fired it up and the MSD/plugs/wires are on right, as the car sounds great.
The bad news? The damn new water pump is leaking! I'm not sure where from yet. I had hell with the gaskets, so I'm assuming (hoping) that's it and will be a relatively simple fix.
Argh! At least this time it won't take me as long to dismantle the car.
Then carefully lower it into its mounting position without hitting anything that could displace or nudge the gasket out of place.
