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From: Clifton Park, NY ............Clearwater, FL ... 85 Original Owner
Water pump blues
My 85 has been losing coolent lately and have found coolent under the water pump. What am I in for? I've always done everything possible to all my vehicles that I possibly can, but this looks quite a bit tougher than changing a starter or alternator. I checked the manual and there is so much to take off before you can get to the pump. Anyone have an opinion on this job? Time it takes? Thanks.
Last edited by Cruisinfanatic; Aug 19, 2004 at 07:35 PM.
Once again, NO YEAR! If it's an L83 or L98, there are lots of things to come off. It sounds like you have the service manual. Just follow it. It is a fairly lengthy job, but no part is particularly difficult or requires any special tools. If it's an LT1, 4, or 5, I have no experience.
Plan on all day. Most of the accessories on the front of the motor have to come off. All the bolts are nearly alike but different. They need to go back in the holes they came from. Be careful on this and the job is not too bad.
I have to agree, it's not really a hard pump to install. Just give yourself enough time and you should be fine.
Just start at the top with the Altenator and work your way down.
Air conditioner can be unbolted and moved off to the side without letting freon out.
I have to agree, it's not really a hard pump to install. Just give yourself enough time and you should be fine.
Just start at the top with the Altenator and work your way down.
Air conditioner can be unbolted and moved off to the side without letting freon out.
Just Watch out for the tricky bolt at 6 o'clock (at the bottom) of the A/C pulley. I think it is easiest to use a torx on it, and it has a flat on the head so you can get it out past the pulley. Knowing about the falt is the whole battle with this bolt. You'll see what i mean. (Assuming you have an L98)
From: Clifton Park, NY ............Clearwater, FL ... 85 Original Owner
Wow , what a job for the first time. Got ti all apart with not too much problem although I am definately going to invest in a set of deep sockets the next time. Had a real tough time gettinf the fuel lines back in alignment. Seems that I messed up the alignment when disassembling. Took an hr and a half to figure out that small error on my part. Got everything back together and started up and I couldn't get the engine shut back down fast enough. Such a noise that you would think that I'd torn up the engine. Found that I'd forgotten to screw in all the way that pesky 6 oclock bolt in the AC compressor. that being fixed I'm hopefully all set for now. Next time,
(next lifetime I hope)
this job would probably not take more than a couple hours.
Thanks for the tips, Mike