The strap wrench I used seemed capable of serious torque and could work for you wrapped around the clutch. I stumbled across the strap wrench when looking for a pair of locking chain pliers for this purpose. Worth a try if you are set against pulling the radiator

 

I have one actually, might have to try it - it's a cheap plastic one, but if I can wedge it somehow... not a ton of room there with all the pulleys in the way, etc... worth a try though.

I had thought about a vise grip with chain attached, but I bet it would either slip, or ruin the pulley... rubber seems safer...

the saga continues - it will be interesting to see what bolts have sealant on them, and which do not, etc... hopefully, they all come out easy.

yeah, I bet I spend a good 1/2 hour buffing that surface too... once it's off... I never want to have to do this again... :-)

 

So, I finally dug out the Chiton's book... found the repair... and they give you two sets of info on torquing all 11 bolts... amazing...

yes, I checked to be sure they were talking about the 3.0L - and the diagrahm shows 2 different torque specs, but the instructions tell you to torque them all the same! hehe amazing!

I can't believe they would have missed this in printing... for sure one is right and one is wrong. I'm going to assume that the one that has diagram and with each bolt marked is the correct one to go by...

also, it tells you to remove the alt bracket, but nothing about takeng out the altinator, just "remove altinator bracket... ummm

 

Go back to post #7 and you will see the factory recommended torque specs. These were straight from the 91 factory service manual.

Note: I got the 2 volume factory manual on e-bay for $10 plus shipping.

 

UPDATE: (this may help other early aero owners) call this sticky WATER PUMP ON OLDER AEROS with 3.0L

Ok, the job is done, and I did do it all myself, Except for one thing....

what I ended up doing was pulling the whole assembly out as one unit, as was suggested. I never could get the fan shaft to budge...

I called a local garage, and he said, just bring her down, I did, he put it on their big vice, and used an Air tool (long wrench looking deal) - and it took him about 5 mins with that tool to finally have it loosen up... 5 mins with the best tool made for this! I was about ready to take my sawzall to it, and then I realized that A) you can not get the fan assembly any longer, and B) you can't buy the twin pulley any more either... so... I started to panic a little until it was freed... had me smiling!

Water Pump removal on the 3.0 shorty (notes, etc)

Remove snorkel, upper hose, both heater hoses, lower alt bracket, power steering idler bracket, and loosen fan shroud.

Loosen alt tension bolt prior to removing bracket, and remove both belts - I ended up replacing mine anyways...

There are 11 bolts to remove from the water pump - with all this other stuff removed, you will have good access to at least 9 of them - the pulley is hiding the small one directly below it... and the pass side top one is sort of hidden by the bottom of the alt... but with a swivel, it was no problem to get - these are all 13mm heads and 10mm for the smaller ones.

What I did, was to put the new WP on top of an open card board box, and took one screw out at a time, and put them in the same hole, as I heard there were some longer and shorter - well, this is not true... there are 2 types of bolts that and the larger ones will not fit into the smaller holes, There are 5 of the smaller bolts (all the same length btw) and 6 of the larger bolts (all the same length)

after the last bolt is off, pull the unit off the block and away and up... you do NOT have to remove the radiator at all! - at least with the 3.0, there was plenty of room to work in the front. The shroud will come with you as you take everything out...

then I'd either do what I did, or plan on getting this air tool and a good vice, and have it come off that way... or you can take a whack at it with a 22mm wrench, but I tried this for 4 hours, and nothing... so save yourself some time...

logic would tell you that it's easier to work on part of a project when you have lots of holding options, etc, then when it's in the truck... at least it did to me... takes the same amount of time, etc...

I cleaned the block best I could - used a scraper tool - the alum wasn't shinny like a new nickel - but I figured it was fine... BE CAREFULL not to get crap into the block or lower hose opening... I used a rag to kinda keep the stuff at bay... I guess if you are planning on doing a full flush, then it doesn't matter, but I wasn't planning on it, since I just did one last fall.

now, loosen and remove the pulley from the old pump, but leave it aside...

Another note here - I didn't like the flimsy gasket that came with the unit, and since I didn't want to have to do this again, I spent the $3 for a Napa gasket... MUCH better about twice the thickness!

I got some grey gasket stuff made for water pumps (Permex) and the little tube gave me just enough to do both sides of the gasket (I did the wp metal, fixed the gasket, then I did that side, which faces the block.) some people say just the one side is enough, others say both, so I decided to do both to be safe...

I then put it on using 2 bolts to at least secure - I chose two opposing upper and lower... and the larger bolts...

Oh, and BTW - the larger bolts had red stuff on the ends of them... found it it was thread locker... so, I got some of that, and used it on just those bigger ones, since the smaller ones were clean as is... My guess is that it is to prevent them coming loose on vibration? not sure, but if ford did this, I felt like I should too :-)

There was no other sealant I saw on these bolts... contrary to other info.

I hand tightened each bolt, as I figured that if they had a bind, it would be noticable here, and they were fine.

I rememberd the amount of force needed to loosen, and used the same to tighten... you just want to bring them home on the small ones and just a little bit more on the others. I guess you can use a tourqe wrench if you want to... but it was fine by feel.

after the 11 bolts are on NOW go ahead and re-install the double pulley - lots more room now without the fan there...

now I just re-install everything... FAN IS LEFT THREAD on the 89's - Im guessing that until ford went to a single belt design (like in my 96 exp 4.0L) these are all left threaded, but the shroud will tell you.

I just threaded the new shaft with my old fan assembly, and with the normal tension of the belts, got it snug... my thought here was, this is the whole purpose of the reverse thread, and sort of self tightening... which it did.

buttoned everything else back together, topped the radiator off with 50/50 and started her up to check for leaks... NONE.... DONE!


Thanks to all the ideas and thoughts you guys had on this - I hope this helps anyone that is working on the older aeros like the first gen.... 1985-1990 - floor shifter, etc...

 

Also, just to add - I did replace the Tstat, since I had a new one anyways, and figured what the heck, even though the other one was fine and only like a year old. They are cheap enough...

 

a good read on a problem solving repair.
thanks mm67.

 

Probably the worst part about all this is if you had to charge a customer with a flat-rate fee. A problem repair is never taken into consideration.

 

Thanks 96 - I figured that there is not that much info on the older 3.0L engines in regards to stuff like this, and the books say one thing, and others have pointed out stuff, etc - having actually seen every bolt and possible problem here, I could do one in my sleep now, well, almost...

One other small point - the monkeys at the cheap places like AZ or Advance sold me the wrong inner belt twice - I finally had to bring in the belt, and it was realized that it was a 4 rib belt vs the outer, and more common 6 rib belt... so, if you are buying a set of belts, be SURE the inner one is a 4 rib and not the 6, or of course, it won't fit...

the last number in their part number for the belt will be how many ribs it has... learned that while I was there.

 

well, yes, but then again, these shops that use book time instead of real time for something like a lower ball joint, and make their money there - a good mechanic can usually 1/2 book time...

I love guys that say "I'm only $50 an hour" but I use book time... I'd rather use someone at $80 an hour that is only going to charge me for their actual time.

It took me 4 hrs to do this job, and I REALLY took my time on it, and of course, never did one either... the book time said 3 hrs, and I know a mechanic can do it in an hour and 1/2, even with the few extra mins it would have taken with the right tool for the fan clutch...

Of course, as I'm putting her back together, I was thinking - I wonder how much more power I could get with an electric fan? but I figured, I came this far, I might as well put it all back like it was.

 

BTW I was quoted $150-$300 for this job!

 

How was the old pump and what was your orig problem?

 

I should have taken a photo of it, or the 2 to compare.

The problem was a leak from the pump - maybe it was from the weep hole, maybe it was from a failing gasket - but it was the OEM unit from the factory... FORD TOUGH... that Water Pump is 22 years old!

I did notice some "play" in the shaft when I had it all apart, etc.. and the new one of course, didn't have this... so, this is where I'm sure the problem was...

Unlike the Taurus's 3.0L of this time, or in the 2nd or 3rd gens (like mid 90's) I was expecting to see a tiny impeller, but the impeller looked perfect actually... People have documented this problem with the antifreeze that actually EATS the impellers... and people would either overheat, or freeze....

I did find a ton of white power looking junk when I pulled the heater hose off the pump... I just changed these a few years back, and flushed the system 2x since then, hopefully, I don't have that stuff anywhere else...

I cleaned it all up, and even did a gentle heater core flush both ways... water was clear...

I hope to get better heat in the winter now too!

 

Thanks Good job!


Dick