I'm in the middle of replacing my water pump, I have the old one out, but have a couple of questions before the new one goes in. When I took the old pump out, the gaskets didn't come off cleanly, and there is a lot of old gasket material left on the block. I've tried getting off as much as I could with a razor blade, but its a pain because its hard to get my hand back in there to scrape it off. Is it OK to have some old gasket material on there or do the surfaces need to be perfectly clean to prevent leaks?

Also, I can't seem to get the engine coolant temp sensor or the thermostat out of my old pump. How do I get the tstat out? Also, I wrenched on the temp sensor with the biggest wrench I had but it wouldn't budge. Is it left-hand thread or anything like that?

Thanks for the help.

 

if your questioning weather or not the gasket surfaces are clean enough they prolly are not, try a little harder unless you really want to pull it again due to a leak

the thermostat tends to stick a little sometimes just try to pry up on it a little bit, but for as cheap as they are it might be a good idea to just replace it

the temp sensor might be a pain to get out and it might pull the threads out of the old pump, your gonna have to put a good amount of force on it

 

Spray some brake cleaner on the old gasket material, it all has to come off. Spray it and rub it with the razor, it'll come off.

Spray the new gaskets with permatex copper spray, this will prevent the gaskets from sticking in the future, and may even make them reusable.

The coolant temp sensor is a 19mm bolt, and it goes lefty loosey to get it out. Put a deep well socket on it and a breaker bar, it will come off.

 

I bought some gasket remove spray and let it soak and scraped it and then redid it several more times. I would replace the temp sensor since they can be a bitch to remove and if it has a lot of miles it will be worth it in the long run. The same thing with the thermostat, i put the 160 degree in when i did mine. My drive gear that goes on between the pump and the engine froze on mine so i bought a new one rather than fight it.

 

Just took my WP off, didnt have any of these probs.

 

I feel your pain. That was one of the worst parts of my cam install. The waterpump gaskets are a pain. I used gasket remover, razer blade, and some scotch pads. You may want to cry but it is worth taking the time to do it right.

Make it as clean as you can so you can not have to do it again.

 

Put a thin film of RTV on both sides of the water pump's gaskets before reinstalling, and you won't have this problem next time.

 

I had to spray some gasket remover on it. also try and get someone to hold your WP steady for you and carefully but forcefully get the temp sensor out

 

Thanks for all the tips, I managed to get the old temp sensor out by bolting the old pump back on temporarily so the pump wasn't sliding around on the ground while I had the wrench on it.

Now I'm having a bigger problem though. I fired the car up after I was done, and it warmed up normally, but after it gets to the temp where the thermostat should open, it heats up very quickly. I figured it was a bad thermostat (I reused the old one), so I went out and bought a new one and just swapped it in. Unfortunately its still doing the same thing. Also, I noticed when I pulled the old thermostat out of the new pump that the channel under the thermostat was completely dry; it looked just like it did when I put it on there. Does anyone know what the problem might be?

 

did you bleed the air out of the system?

 

did you bleed the cooling system properly, i think there is a write up on shoebox's web site

 

Yes, I have been opening the bleeder screws at various intervals when I am warming the car up, but I never get any coolant out them, just air. I guess I should have filled the water pump with coolant through the thermostat opening, but I don't think I should do it now because I will probably overfill the system.

 

Alright, now that I looked at Shoebox's guide, I don't think I filled the system right I added all of the coolant to the remote reservoir, rather than adding it to the radiator directly. Should I try adding more coolant directly to the radiator?

Also, and this is going to sound stupid, but I can't get the stupid radiator cap off. It rotates about a quarter turn and then stops. Is it supposed to rotate all the way off?

 

For the rad cap...push down and turn it.Only open the bleeder screws with the engine off.

 

Like a medicine bottle you push down while turning. Keep the radiator filled while running the car and stop when you get just coolant and no air. You want it running with the bleeder screw open with just a small bit of air coming out. Be sure to put a rag under so you keep it off the opti. I was extra careful and ran it for a few minutes bleed it and kept filling until it was topped off. I also didn't drive it far before i checked it again. It will probably need a little coolant over the next several days. Watch under the car and be sure no leaks are showing up also. Just a little coolant can wreck the opti.