Hi All,

ok, so looks like I am going to need a new water pump and gasket.

can someone walk me through this... do I need a puller for the pulley, is the fan threaded backwards, etc?

besides taking the top hose and belts off, can I leave the shroud on? radiator in?

Chilton is of little help really.

This is the 3.0L engine, as a reference - 1989, with ac

Thanks board! you guys rock!

 

I have the shop manual for 91 here is what it says.

1] Disconnect negative battery cable.

2] Drain coolant.

3] Remove fan*

4] Loosen 4 water pump pulley bolts.

5] Release tension on fan belts and remove.

6] Remove water pump pulley.

7] Remove alternator adjusting arm and brace from throttle body.

8] Remove heater hose from pump.

9] Rotate belt adjuster out of the way.

10] Remove 11 water pump to engine bolts. Note bolt locations.

11] Remove old pump and discard old gasket.



* To take the fan off:

1] Disconnect fan shroud.

2] Disconnect overflow tube and place shroud behind fan.

3] Loosen the nut holding the clutch to the fan. LEFT HAND THREAD!, 22mm wrench.

Fan and clutch come off together.

Hope this helps. On my 91, the fan shroud contains a warning about the left hand thread. Not sure if that applies for your 89. From looking at the pictures in the book, it appears that if your fan has blades where the back edge of the blades point to the passenger side (looking from the top) then you have left hand threads on the fan clutch nut, but if the back edge point to the drivers side then you have a right hand nut.

For the 3.0 it doesn't show any special tools (Skinny wrench and large crowsfoot to hold the pulley.) like it does for the 4.0 or the 2.9.

 

thanks so much - one question - are all the 11 bolts different sizes then? wondering from anyone that has actually done this job - be nice if they are all the same and wouldn't mattered, etc.... but I guess some are shorter/longer then others? 13mm socket?

it's good that I won't need a puller... I may actually take the shroud out too with the fan, just to give me more room to work there? same with the top hose of the radiator?

thanks,

 

The bolts holding the water pump onto the front cover will be of different lengths, but probably not ALL different. You do need to put the different sizes into their original holes. Most important are the 4 that go around the water passages; they will be the longest, as they will go through the cover into the block.

I don't think there is room to manipulate the fan out without taking the shroud with it. I don't remember if I had to remove the top hose, but it can't hurt. This would be a good time to check the condition of the hoses, so I would remove them just for that.

 

do they all torque the same, or are the block ones a bit more? - 15-20 flbs?

any good/bad advice on gaskets? should I use a felpro here, or is there a better brand?

Also, brand of Water Pump? will even an aftermarket last me the rest of the life of the van, or should I spend the extra money here on a MotorCraft one?

Thanks,

 

I don't remember the torque specs for all the bolts, but I think the ones going into the block can take more since the block is iron, while the front cover is aluminum. Best to find the correct specs for all of them.

All the gaskets I've seen (FelPro and otherwise) for this application are made of treated paper, so I don't know that there would be that much difference among them. I always use RTV sealant on both sides of the gaskets anyway.

The last time I changed mine, I got a new one made by some German company with a lifetime warranty from Kragen. It may have been original manufacturer, but not branded by Ford, as the 4 liter engine is made in Germany (Cologne).

 

Torque specs.:

Shroud to radiator bolt: 4-6 Ft.lb.
radiator hose clamps: 20-30 in.lb.
Thermostat housing: 19 Ft.lb.
Fan to clutch:4.5-6 Ft.lb
clutch to water pump:30 to 100 Ft.lb
Water pump to front cover: Most are 19 Ft.lb. but some show a 7 Ft.lb spec, and one of the bolts appear to need some Teflon pipe dope.

I hate to sound vague on this, but the book shows a picture with the bolts all numbered but this includes the bolts that hold the front cover on the block.

It is difficult to describe which bolts are which, but I will try.

If we were to draw a line between the center of the crank shaft pulley and the center of the water pump pulley one bolt will be at 12 o'clock and one at 6 o'clock, each of these bolts are 7 Ft.lb.

From the bolt at the 6 o'clock position, one bolt to the left and one bolt to the right are also 7 Ft.lb.

From the bolt at the 6 o'clock position, the third bolt to the right is a 7 Ft.lb.

If you were to go two bolts to the left of the bolt at the 6 o'clock position, this is the bolt that calls for the pipe dope. (I suspect this is because the hole goes into the water jacket so that might be an easier way to identify it.)

As far as which pump to choose, right now Rock Auto has the Airtex brand on closeout for $17.45 with a lifetime warranty. I am not sure if that offering comes with a gasket, if it doesn't come with the gasket then the A1 Cardone does come with the gasket and also has a lifetime warranty.

The gaskets all appear to be nothing special, probably not a seal that is prone to failure so any one is probably OK, especially if you give it a little gasket goop.

In comparison, the Motorcraft pump is $86.79 and has a 12 month warranty.

My understanding is the design of this pump (for the Vulcan 3.0) is a little flawed in that the impeller is stamped steel and will corrode away before the bearing and the seal fail. The loss of function is gradual so the operating temp creeps up, the coolant boils and vents and folks tend to top off with water. This then causes more corrosion and little bits tend to clog the radiator. Since the pump is not leaking it is often ignored and things continue to get worse.

If however the pump gets changed when it looses efficiency, then everything works well and the motor is happy.

With that said, I would go for the cheap pump with the lifetime warranty. In re-manufacturing they all get new impellers and if you keep your coolant in good shape the corrosion problems are minimal.

Might be a good time to back flush the radiator and heater core.

Just my non expert opinion, YMMV.

 

I would think that the bolts that go through the front cover into the block need a little more torque, and take more since they are turning into cast iron threads. These are the longer ones that go on either side of the water passages. The rest of the bolts tighten against the front cover, and are turning into aluminum threads, so they can't take too much torque, and 7 lbs-ft sounds about right.

 

Thanks guys for all this info.

My situation right now is I can't seem to get the fan off the front pulley - the shroud does say that it's a left threaded, so, been trying to turn it clockwise from front of van.

even with the belts super tight, it just won't budge... Got my 22mm open end wrench, and used a second wrench with mini sludge, and nothing....

any thoughts - I know I can't just take the 4 bolts off the front pulley, because the new one shows threaded spindle...

BTW I ended up with an Advance Auto $22.00 New one - seems decent... it did come with the gasket, but I bought one at napa for $3, and it's MUCH better made... like 2x the thickness!

I bet I will notice a huge difference in cooling, but I can't get the darn fan off..

The nut in question is about 3 inches long... almost like a mini hex shaft I guess... wish I could hold the pulleys still without risking damaging them but no place I can find to wedge a screwdriver, etc...

any ideas?

yeah, I'm gonna try the gentle back flush of the heater core for sure with both hoses off, and might as well throw a new t-stat in, and might as well replace the 2 belts too... so all that will be new...

but FIRST I have to get the darn thing off...

 

Years ago, I replaced the water pump on our '91 3.0 van.
I seem to remember keeping the belt on and hitting the wrench with a rubber mallet quite forcefully until it freed itself.
Is there room for that?

 

yup, room enough - tried using a double wrench arm for leverage and mini sludge hammer - won't budge - left handed threads means I want to go clockwise to loosen, correct - just want to be sure I'm not losing my mind here.

the problem is, that the belts either slip, or will turn everything when it's hit even when I tighten them past where they would normally be... still moves all the other pulleys when it's turned....

I hate to use something like heat there... but honestly - anyone ever have this tough of a time with this fan/clutch?

 

You may be able to find a wrench kit specifically for removing large fan nuts at your local auto parts store. There is one tool that looks like a really large open ended wrench that fits over the 4 bolt heads on the pulley to hold it steady. It has a 1/2" square hole in it for use with a breaker bar. Once you've stabilized the pulley with this tool, you can use your 22 mm wrench on the nut to loosen it. All it takes is a good snap to loosen the nut, then it should turn pretty easily.

On my van, using this tool sort of required removal of the fan belt first to provide the space needed for sticking 2 large wrenches into that area.

 

Hi, Ok, got that fan wrench kit - my only fear now is that I think the heads of the 4 bolts are recessed -meaning that the outer most pulley (there are two on the 3.0L, one for Alt/AC/WP and the other is for the smaller belt for the power steering...) I think the pulley has a lip on it, or a slight bevel...

I'm praying that the bolts are flush with the pulley edge... they give you 5 wrenchs in this kit (rent a tool) - so hopefully one of these works...

so, is that the only/best place to have it grip the pulley like that?

 

The other option I've seen is a belt clamp. You wrap a belt, like a fan belt, around the pulley using this clamp handle in the direction opposite of the way you want to apply torque. Some work better than others, and I never got mine to work, which is why I ended up getting the fan pulley holder tool.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...necessary.html. Some threads are clockwise. See link and check shroud for left or right.