My Firebird is at the GM dealer right now for a waterpump change, and I realized that I forgot to mention to them to cover up the optispark. This dealer hasn't done very many LT1 waterpumps, this much I do know.

So how dangerous is a water pump change to the optispark if the mechanic doing the work doesn't take any steps to fully protect it?

 

i actually spilled quite a bit of water on my opti when i changed it, so far hasnt affected it.

 

Pending they take the proper precautions (remove block drain plugs) you should be fine. As long as they use common sense, and cover it with a few rags, you should have nothing to worry about. Wouldn't hurt to give them a call for a friendly reminder though.

 

They've been working on the car for a few hours now, so any call I put in now will not help out, as I'm sure they've got the old one off by now.

For those of you who have had it done at the dealer, how many hours did it take them? It's going to cost me $800 CDN in total ($520US) Although I also told him to throw on a new serpentine belt after he gave me that quote, so it'll end up $50 or so higher probably.

 

I took my water pump off at least 5 times last year and drained the radiator completely each time. No chance of the hoses having anything in them. Fear not!!!

 

I would be more worried about the price they are charging you!!! A new WP is about $200 US. Over $300 for labor, for a WP? It only takes about 1-2 hrs, start to finish. A far as it getting damaged, any WP replacement is going to involve removing the hoses, which will drain the majority of the water that could damage your Opti. I thin you'll be safe.

Kyle

 

What a rip off, at the most it should take about an hour to swap a water pump... especially in a shop.

In a driveway w/ limited tools at my friend's house we swapped an opti in just about 2 hours. The waterpump was eeeasy... pull the block plugs to drain the coolant and not much should come out of the pump itself. Yank the (i think) six bolts, pull it out, pop some new gaskets in, tighten up, put the air bellows back in, throw some coolant into the system and it's dooone.

 

Well they've been working on my car for a few hours now and I still haven't gotten a phone call to say it's ready, so they probably ran into some snags. An 8 year old waterpump isn't going to just pop right off without a bit of coaxing.

 

It should with a quick soft blow with a hammer.

 

Came off my friend's 93 w/ no problem..

If they're taking that long to work on your car they're incompetent.

 

They also might have had to wait an hour or two for the part to arrive, I forgot to take that into account as well.

It's really wierd though, the water pump leaked like crazy when it was cold out but as soon as the engine warmed up it stopped. In 0F weather on Saturday it was spraying coolant everywhere after the cold start, and then 2-3min later it was fine.

On a cold start in 30 or even 20 degree weather, it didn't seem like it leaked at all. I've never heard of that happening before.

 

I need to change my opti but Im going to wait untill I have a new wp. Im not going to install a new opti then have to replace my old wp and get my new opti all wet. So im going to do them both at once.

 

I guess if they had killed my waterpump then they would pay for it too? Or would they try and get me for that repair also? Has anyone had this scenario happen to them?

I just got the call telling me it'll be ready in an hour, so I'm out the door! I'm lucky my mom is retired and let me borrow her car today and helped shuttle me back and forth.