(G) water pump renewal

right then, time for a new water pump me thinks, the cento uses water slowly but surely and there is a strange whistle / whine coming from the alternator / water pump area, and as the water pump is cheaper, i am going to change that first

so people who have already done this, anything i need to look out for?
and is there a gasket that i will need as well?
and im guessing its easier to drain the coolant before attempting this?

cheers

mase

cant answer any of your questions, but a photo diary would be nice

day 1, Monday 25th sept 2006: raining outside, woke up to sound of rain against window, decided i couldnt be assed to get out of bed, so didnt, water pump can wait.

that sort of thing?

few other random questions as i cant be assed to find the haynes manual.

1. do i need to take alternator out to get to water pump?
2. if so would i need a new alternator belt?

if answer to number 1 is yes, then your going to have to wait, as im plannin on fitting an uprated alternator as well but not gettin it yet.

The water pump is fairly straight forward to change, but you need to remove the cam belt first as this drives the water pump, so may as well replace the cam belt and alternator belt unless both are fairly new and known to have lots of life in them still.

There is no gasket supplied with pump, its an instant gasket you use, do not use the blue or red universal stuff, use the Loctite specific one for water pumps, its either grey or black i can never remember as one is for sumps one is for water pumps but they are both found in Halfords.

It may also be useful at this time to check the seal on the pipe that goes from water pump along front of engine as the rubber O ring can compress over time and leak, these are available from Fiat for less than £1 so no need not to change, Fiat have actually updated this pipe to a better design with a large rubber sleeve that can't compress over time, and therefore not leak, but its £20ish. You do not need any gasket on this pipe the rubber O ring seals fine as is, if its got sealant on it its probably leaked at some point seen many like that.

its not a hard job at all, just a bit time consuming.

Aaron.

cheers dude.... it had a new cam belt when the engine went in (i assume) so its done 20k tops.

if i just slipped the cam belt off the water pump housing then fitted a new one, would i need to get the timing looked at after?

Just set the timing up before removing belt its not difficult, line the mark on cam pulley with mark on head, and the crank pulley with mark on block, if you have a Haynes manual it shows you how to do this, I would't just slip belt off anywhere and hope you get it back on correct place again, to easy to get it one notch out.

And are you sure the pump is on its way out? the noise you here isn't just the alternator belt slipping? or the rubber O ring i said compressed as when this happens water leaks out of pipe/water pump join and runs down body of teh water pump making it look like its the pump thats leaking.

im not sure at all TBH.... its very strange

it does make a slightly weird noise, which varies in volume, i think ive narrowed it down the to alternator or water pump. well at least thats the area its coming from, the alternator belt doesnt seem loose, and im not gettin any power loss when its under load, though the belt does squeel occasionally after heavy rain.

but coolant is being used up somewhere, its only a very slow leak, and there is never any drips left on the drive / car park over night, so i thought it was either the alternator belt or the bearings in the water pump?

but thinkin about it, suppose it could be a slightly loose alternator belt, and that o ring u talked about.... guess i need to take the car apart and find out, bloody over time.

After my recent headgasket shenanighans, im looking into replacing the water pump meself soon. Will be watching this Mase "diary style" thread with interest.

To discern whether the alternator bearings are at fault, take the alternator belt off and start the car. Yes the red light will be on, but it does no damage to the alternator or battery to run it like that for a few minutes.

Cheers

D

i was about to ask weather something like that could be done to determine which was cause the weird noise!

Its not often I can be proactive rather than reactive.

Cheers

D