Hello to all and thanks for all the great information that has been provided to me. I have completed tons of work on my 04 with the help of this forum. I searched tons of threads for information on water pump removal and fan removal. I would like to contribute with my "how to" on removing everything to get to the water pump.
Disconnect the negative battery connections.
I began by draining the radiator by opening the valve at the bottom. Let this drain and move on to the next steps.
Disconnect the upper radiator hose that comes from the thermostat, the small hose that leads to the degas bottle, and the electric connection for the fan.
Carefully detach the plastic covers that are snapped in on top of the fan shroud.
Remove the two 8mm bolts that hold the front fan shroud to the radiator.
Get underneath the truck and disconnect the lower radiator hose slowly to minimize getting the rest of the coolant all over the place.
Disconnect the two transmission cooling lines that are attached to the bottom of the radiator.
Back on top of the radiator the two mounting brackets are removed by loosening the four 8mm bolts.
You now can pull the radiator forward allowing room to slowly pull the front fan shroud upward and out of the truck.
Follow this by slowly lifting up on the radiator and remove it from the truck. I did this to allow more working room.
At this point, the fan assembly needs to be removed to access the water pump.
Unclip the fan wire harness from the rear fan shroud.
The rear fan shroud is attached to the engine with four 15mm bolts. Two at the top and two at the bottom. Access was easy between fan blades with ratchet extensions.
Now pull the rear fan shroud forward to expose the fan clutch nut.
I used a long screwdriver placed in the holes of the water pump pulley cover to keep it from moving. Instead of the expensive fan wrenches or removal tools, I used an 18" pipe wrench ($15 at tool store) on the nut, turning it counterclockwise.
Upon loosening the nut the entire way, you can now carefully remove the fan and the rear shroud all at the same time up and out of the truck.
The water pulley cover is attached by four 10mm bolts. Loosen the bolts and then release tension on the serpentine belt by using 1/2" drive ratchet clockwise in the tension pulley located to the left of the water pump.
Pull the belt out of the way and finish removing the pulley cover and plate.
The water pump is now exposed. Remove the four 10mm bolts that attach the pump to the front cover. A slight tap popped the water pump off of the engine.
I hope this information helps someone like all of the information has helped me.
First - some information:
2003's and 2004.25's have water pump reliability issues. It's mostly due to the design, the water pump is smaller than a 2004 and up 6.0. The 2003 impeller is 90 mm diameter and 7 vanes. The larger pump is 100 mm impeller diameter and also 7 vanes. To fix it properly so the impeller doesn't break again you need to install a 2004 and up front cover and water pump. If you put another 03 water pump in it will just break later down the road. To make everything easier just order all the parts for an 05'. You'll need an '05 front cover, water pump, low pressure oil pump cover gasket, front cover gasket, front crank seal (front cover gasket and crank seal should come with new cover, if not then front crank seal comes with front cover gasket), and an intake manifold gasket set. You can leave the intake manifold on and sneak the front cover out but I always remove it. When you remove the front cover be sure to use a plastic scraper on the bed plate seams, if the ends of the bed plate gasket come off with the front cover the truck will need bed plate gaskets down the road for sure. When installing the cover make sure the two dowels are installed or else the low pressure oil pump will not line up. It sounds worse than it is, it's a relatively easy job. The only thing to watch out for is the bed plate seam and the only special tool you'll need is a front crank seal installer (and possible a wear ring remover if the front crank seal has been replaced in the past).
Disconnect the upper radiator hose that comes from the thermostat, the small hose that leads to the degas bottle, and the electric connection for the fan.
The rear fan shroud is attached to the engine with four 15mm bolts. Two at the top and two at the bottom. Access was easy between fan blades with ratchet extensions. http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/pi...ictureid=12128
Now pull the rear fan shroud forward to expose the fan clutch nut.
I used a long screwdriver placed in the holes of the water pump pulley cover to keep it from moving. Instead of the expensive fan wrenches or removal tools, I used an 18" pipe wrench ($15 at tool store) on the nut, turning it counterclockwise. http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/pi...ictureid=12129
Upon loosening the nut the entire way, you can now carefully remove the fan and the rear shroud all at the same time up and out of the truck.
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