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Help...Leaking water pump after TB replacement

3408 Views 10 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  steevmac
Just replaced the timing belt and new components of kit on my ALH, buttoned everything back up, warmed the engine up to check the IP timing (got my timing right where I wanted at 58 :D), after several adjustments and restarts I notice the coolant (my fresh new coolant) level is low. OK I top that off attributing to air in the system, let her run about 5 more minutes and notice the level is down again, further examination is the new water pump leaking. I have removed everything to be able to get a visual on the water pump, with the ending running it appears to be leaking around the top of the casing. Is it common for the O ring on the pump to get pinched during installation? When installing I coated the seal with new G12. It did go in a bit difficult where I had to insert the WP bolts and walk it in, I would have preferred that I was able to push it in but no such luck which I attributed to just being a new seal. The pump is a new Graf metal impeller pump. As it was a bit difficult to get in I tried inserting the old pump which I was able to push in by hand, again I attribute that to the seal which was the original which had been in place and compressed since 2002. It looks like I should be able to pull the water pump without having to undo the new 1 time use motor mount bolts, does anyone have any tips for reusing the new Graf pump. I am wondering if the G12 may have caused the O ring to swell causing it to roll out of the slot during installation. If the seal looks intact when I get it out tomorrow I will try coating with grease rather then G12 to reinsert. Hopefully that is all it is and not a cracked pump housing. I know I will have to through the tension procedure again (aquire TDC, losen cam and IP pulleys), having been through that once on this ALH should be straight forward now.

Thanks in advance for any tips before I fly back into this in the morning.
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Yep, you should not have to grease the pump or o-ring either either. Wetting it with coolant should be all.
Yes, the o-ring could leak, you know that! But if you're in a rush and are willing to take the risk of doing it again, go ahead. Also double check your current water pump and old pump and make sure the o-ring is sitting to the same depth in the same groove. Maybe the water pump is the problem.

If the bolts on the engine side break the engine will fall down. It's also hard on the aluminum mount threads. If the bolts on the body side break it will shake and rattle around violently but the engine won't fall down. Is it possible to reuse them? Yes but I wouldn't since as you already know, they are only supposed to be torqued to their final value once. You can replace them one at a time later to resolve this temporary (get home) fix.
If there is, it would be in transmission module. Don't know much about the autos, sorry!
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