Waterpump Woes!!! Advice Pleeease.

[andy288]

My 91 K10 is leaking water badly now from the waterpump area so gonna change it. Anyone done it already - advice on the pro's and cons gratefully received.

Also, the Haynes 'destruction' manual says sealant needs to be applied to the threads of the pump mounting bolts when refitting to prevent water leaks, any advice on what type/brand etc to use and the time it takes to 'cure' before refilling the coolant? :suspect:

 

[Andrew]

It's a fairly easy job. Need to take off the cam belt cover and drivers side engine mount though, which adds time. The bolts for the engine mount are a right pain to do. Scraping the old gasket off is important, but because of the limited access, takes a bit of time. WD40 and a chunk of snapped off hacksaw blade are good for this.

If you are due a cam belt replacement, do it at the same time, as it saves a lot of effort.

Not sure about the sealant thing. One of the bolts on the last one I did was stripped, so I used Liquid Gasket all the way round instead of the fibre gasket it came with. It never leaked.

 

[micra man]

Yeah it aint too hard of a job really. Mine went last year too, but was solved easily enough. Erm... think the sealant you are after is called something like gasket sealant. Can be brought from most motor factors. Can't remember exactly as it was a while ago when it happened to me but sure we used it somewhere lol. Possibly the same as liquid gasket even.

 

[Slim]

i'd advise putting on a new cambelt anyway really, certainly if you are planning to keep the car.

 

[andy288]

Thanx for all the advice, done a cambelt change last year so that will be ok, its just the sealing of the bolts thing as I dont want any leaks after reassembly. Been quoted £22 for a pump by the way if anyones interested!

 

[Andrew]

Halfords is £28 or thereabouts IIRC. I think Partco (or Unipart, or whoever they are where you are) were cheaper by a bit, but it would have taken until the next day to get one, and I don't deal in patience.