How to replace water pump

[Jason94sport]

I have my radiator, fan, fan clutch, TS & hoses all out for replacement.
Would replacing the water pump be a good idea? And how do you do it? The manual I have is useless. I read several different posts about it saying I need to remove the alt, & compressor brackets, & pullies I'm reading conflicting info.
I'm not sure if that's for the 4.0L OHV engine or not.

Thanks

 

[mehedgec]

Remove the bolts and pull it off.

 

[Anime]

If you have all that off, the water pump is nothing more than loosening all of the 10mm bolts holding it on, cleaning off the old gasket/sealant, and putting on another one. I do suggest using some Permatex Water Pump & Thermostat Housing sealant, as the wimpy paper gaskets by themselves don't seem to seal very well, and I have yet to find a decent stand-alone gasket with rubber or something to make a watertight seal. Let the sealant get tacky, stick on the water pump, let it sit awhile, then tighten the bolts to spec. I usually let the sealant fully cure overnight before reinstalling everything and filling up the system with coolant.

If it's the original Motorcraft pump, you might be better off NOT replacing it and saving your money. I've gone through three GMB pumps from NAPA (lifetime warranty) after replacing the OEM one for cooling issues that later turned out to be belt/thermostat related. I've also had a heck of a time keeping the pump bolts tight...though this may have been a coolant issue (leaked with new Prestone Deathcool formula, doesn't seem to seep anymore with Zerex G-05).

Overall I say it's hard to beat a Ford pump/thermostat/fan clutch combo. You can go aftermarket in a pinch but I don't think there's anything better in terms of build quality and durability than the OEM Motorcraft water pump. Maybe that's why Ford wants $175+ for a new one.

On the other hand, if you're replacing everything else with aftermarket stuff, you could always get a new pump now ($50-60) and keep the other one as a backup.

 

[Jason94sport]

Ok I I shouldn't have to remove anything else to get the water pump out? I was getting conflicting info on that. I may not replace it. Didn't have any problems that I could see. No leaking or noises. Just replacing the cooling system stuff since FL weather can be rough. The coolant was a murky color & the TS was stuck open the fan clutch was bad & fan cracked & the hoses were all deteriorated inside & hard as a rock.

 

[Anime]

Is there anything in front of the pump blocking your access to the bolts or from pulling it directly forward? If not, there's no reason to remove anything else. The directions for removing alternator and compressor brackets are likely either for absolute perfect access...or just to trump up labor charges for the time to do such a repair.

You'll have to make the call on the pump. You can keep it on there and just flush the system with distilled water first before filling with coolant which will clean it some, remove the pump and check it out and replace with a new gasket & sealant, or just replace with a new pump while you're in there anyway.

I'd suggest using either Zerex Original Green or Zerex G-05 (both available at NAPA) for the coolant. Prestone and other similar "universal" coolants worked ok for cooling and kept the system quite clean, but seem to have been the cause of the leaks and seepage I had from gaskets and things, plus I think it ate away at some of the radiator/reservoir plastic.

 

[oldmodman]

Here is a link to the water pump sticky.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=273723

Lots of good info & pictures.

 

[Jason94sport]

Thanks, I saved the link.
I could not find that for the life of me. I knew it was around....

I wound up not replacing the water pump. I didn't want to open a can of worms. It still works fine. If it fails, it fails & I'll replace it at that time.
I bought the same fan clutch tool as in the DIY. I can take everything back off if I need to.