- Joined
- November 11, 2005
- Messages
- 56,689
- Reaction score
- 1,186
- City, State
- Brooklyn, NY
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 88 89 93 95 96 Aerostars
The Aerostar is known for limited space under the hood, but it's still possible to do most repairs without learning to be a contortionist. The water pump replacement would have been a little easier if the Ford engineers would have made the alternator bracket with a slight arch to get a socket under it. Another odd thing is that they interchange 2 sizes of bolts instead of keeping everything the same size. One last thought. The 3.0L uses recessed bolts on the water pump pulley which makes it a little tough to grab when you want to hold the pulley in place. The 4.0L does not have a recess. These pictures were taken on my 89. Later 3.0L engines such as on my 96 use a different alternator, and only have one drive belt.
Now with the fan clutch (7/8" or 22MM wrench size) removed, you could see the set up with the belt orientation:
You have to remove both belts. Start with the alternator belt:
The next belt is the inner one which is on the power steering pump:
It's now a good time to remove the alternator bracket:
You could see where my greasy hand is pointing to. It's the location of the upper water pump bolt. You have to remove this bracket to get to it. The water pump could now be unbolted from the engine block. Here's a picture of the water pump out of the vehicle:
This is the back of it:
This is the part on the engine without the pump:
This concludes the removal half of this thread. The next half will be the installation. The reason that the pump was removed was because the paper gasket blew out on the highway while it was only 3 months old. The pump is from Autozone with a lifetime warranty.
Now with the fan clutch (7/8" or 22MM wrench size) removed, you could see the set up with the belt orientation:
You have to remove both belts. Start with the alternator belt:
The next belt is the inner one which is on the power steering pump:
It's now a good time to remove the alternator bracket:
You could see where my greasy hand is pointing to. It's the location of the upper water pump bolt. You have to remove this bracket to get to it. The water pump could now be unbolted from the engine block. Here's a picture of the water pump out of the vehicle:
This is the back of it:
This is the part on the engine without the pump:
This concludes the removal half of this thread. The next half will be the installation. The reason that the pump was removed was because the paper gasket blew out on the highway while it was only 3 months old. The pump is from Autozone with a lifetime warranty.
