- Apr 26, 2012
- 404
Finished my water pump and fan clutch replacement. Water pump was leaking pretty badly. But when the weather warmed up, it basically stopped. Still, was the original with my '03, so time to do both. Some observations:
1) Really appreciated this tip:
Wasn't really sure what he was getting at, as he doesn't quite explain everything, but basically the fan clutch nut is not going to give you enough clearance with the water pump pully in front. By using longer bolts, you can pry the clutch free of that fan assembly, and that gets you just enough clearance to take out the upper shroud, clutch, and fan assembly all out together. A real time saver.
Use the long bots for the new clutch so that you have clearance with the new clutch nut going back in. Once you get the shroud placed back in, then you can put the short 8mm bolts back in to attach the clutch to the fan assembly.
2) Stupid locking hose clamps. Stupid. Sure, in a perfect world, the clamps are newer and make it easy for you. In my world, the lock tab is busted off by some previous mechanic, and you have to keep the clamp open while positioning the clamp and working the hose into place. With very little room to get your hands in there. Oh, and the hose fitting so snugly (by necessity, you don't want leaking there) you can't get it to slide on. Couldn't be at the rad end, no, had to be down at the water pump. Should have put the upper hose on before putting the pump in. Had to cut the clamp off the hose (it is fixed on the hose with a molded bracket).
Could have just bought new hoses if I had thought of it, but I had not. Of course they have none in town when I am almost through the job.
3) Somewhere I read a tip to jack up the front and then start to add coolant. That worked really well, had no air locks and no spiking temperature when I ran it up to operating temperature. Just added coolant slowly and let the air gurgle out little by little, until the coolant didn't drop in the neck.
4) The water pump (Gates) came with a thermostat. Seems to run just a very small amount hotter at operating temperature, just barely below 100 C.
5) What kind of stores carry premix, but not the concentrate for Dexcool? Why would I pay for water? Had to go to a second place to get it.
6) My old fan clutch was Behr. Was this OE for the Envoy in 03? Surprised me. Could have left it in, I suppose, but just seemed like it was worth replacing at the same time as the pump.
1) Really appreciated this tip:
Use the long bots for the new clutch so that you have clearance with the new clutch nut going back in. Once you get the shroud placed back in, then you can put the short 8mm bolts back in to attach the clutch to the fan assembly.
2) Stupid locking hose clamps. Stupid. Sure, in a perfect world, the clamps are newer and make it easy for you. In my world, the lock tab is busted off by some previous mechanic, and you have to keep the clamp open while positioning the clamp and working the hose into place. With very little room to get your hands in there. Oh, and the hose fitting so snugly (by necessity, you don't want leaking there) you can't get it to slide on. Couldn't be at the rad end, no, had to be down at the water pump. Should have put the upper hose on before putting the pump in. Had to cut the clamp off the hose (it is fixed on the hose with a molded bracket).
Could have just bought new hoses if I had thought of it, but I had not. Of course they have none in town when I am almost through the job.
3) Somewhere I read a tip to jack up the front and then start to add coolant. That worked really well, had no air locks and no spiking temperature when I ran it up to operating temperature. Just added coolant slowly and let the air gurgle out little by little, until the coolant didn't drop in the neck.
4) The water pump (Gates) came with a thermostat. Seems to run just a very small amount hotter at operating temperature, just barely below 100 C.
5) What kind of stores carry premix, but not the concentrate for Dexcool? Why would I pay for water? Had to go to a second place to get it.
6) My old fan clutch was Behr. Was this OE for the Envoy in 03? Surprised me. Could have left it in, I suppose, but just seemed like it was worth replacing at the same time as the pump.
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