Replacing a water pump.

[Les Henson]

Failure of the water pump is usually water leaking out of the small hole at the bottom of the water pump 'nose', just behind the fan belt pulley. Occasionally the bearing fails with no leak, and this is identifed by the racket it makes and play in the fan pully/fan assembly. Sometimes the bearing fails with no loss of fluid, but this is quite rare. Once the bearing starts to wear, it disintegartes quite rapidly and the vehicle becomes undriveable. Once the problem has been identified, you need to replace the pump as soon as possible. The method of replacing the pump is very similar regardless of what engine you have. The vehicle shown in this thread is a 2.5TD 90, owned by Mark Jenkins of this website.

Huge cowling restricts access to the pump.

There's a hole in the pulley, and I utilise this in order to remove the viscous fan (fixed fan is just unbolted)

Handy tool at the top for holding the pulley, and the correct cranked water pump spanner - about £7 from most motor factors.

From the front of the engine the fan unscrews to the right. Tools in place.

Once the fan is unscrewed, lay it inside the cowling - you need to lift them both out at the same time.

Then undo those 4 stupid little spring loaded screws that hold the cowling to the radiator.

Lift the cowling and as soon as there's enough room, remove the fan. The cowling can be removed with the top radiator hose in place, but it's easier to remove the hose. Once the cowling is off, utilise the fan belt tension to slacken the 4 bolts that hold the pulley to the pump (13mm socket)

Remove the top nut and bolt from the alternato tensioner bar and slacken the bottom bolt. Remove the fan belt and let it hang on the crank pulley.

Undo the jubilee clip at the bottom of the connecting hose. Lift the clip up and tighten it a bit to keep it in place.

Undo the jubille clip for the bottom radiator hose and tuck the hose end under the timing case bracket to keep it oput of the way.

All the water pump bolts are 13mm head, and are various sizes. There's one tucked right at the bottom.

There are three bolts on the point of the water pump that pass right through the timing case and into the engine block. These are exposed to coolant and are well known for corroding in place/siezing/snapping off.

Be very careful when removing these. One is longer than the others. so be very careful to make a note/saver card for the reletive bolt positions.

Once all the bolts are removed, rotate the pump anti-clockwise until the joining pipe seperates, then remove the pump and remove all traces of gasket/sealant etc.

To make things slightly easier, you can stick the new gasket to the pump. I use several blobs of RTV sealant, but you can use grease or hylomar instead.

The three bolts for the point of the pump are usually in a mess, with either rust or sealant.

Clean them up with a wire brush and apply a permanent grease, such as coppaslip or in this case, nickel grease.

Fit the new pump and tighten all the bolts, reconnect the two hoses and tighten the jubille clips (not mental tight - you needn't assume that you are going to have a leak)

Refit the pully and hand tighten the 4 bolts. Put the belt back on and the alternator belt tensioner. Apply moderate leverage as shown - not too tight as this could cause premature failure of the pump bearing. Once the belt is tensioned, tighten the pulley bolts properly.

put the rest back together in reverse order to taking it apart, fill the cooling system and start the engine. Run it up to temperature and check for any leaks.

Les.