Ok, I am running out of time so I am looking for a quick response. I am replacing my water pump today and run into a few porblems. After getting most of my questions answered by searching I am stumped as to this very last snag I have run into. There is a metal pipe comming out the top of the water pump. I assume this needs to come out and go onto the new one since the new item doesnt have it. I have been able to rotate it slightly but for the last hour havent been able to get it to come out at all. I thought about taking off all the hoses that connect to it and then try to get the metal off once the pump is in my hands, but I tried two hoses and cant get them off the metal pipe either, mostly because I cant get any kinda angle to pull them off. Please any advice, I need to be driving the truck in the morning more than likely.

Edit> ohh I forget this is my '99 f150 4.2L

 

Wiggle and pull, it has an o-ring sealing it and it can be a little difficult to get out. You can if you can get at the bottom to slightly pry up with something while twisting.

 

Thanks for the response. After fiddling with it a lot more I finally got the stupid thing to come off. But after looking at the now seperated water pump it doesnt look like it was the culprit of my noise. I was expecting to see some wear where the impeller had worn into the housing or something, everything looked fine. Oh well. But its just been one of those days that you remember how much you hate wrenching. Got a gash on my palm, and the top of my hand is swollen up since its been scraped and bumped so many times. Cant lay over the radiator anymore my chest is so sore from doing it and getting jabbed with the hood latch. And now I cant figure out how in the h311 I am going to scrape of the gasket! I just spent about 20 minutes and was able to get the easiest-to-reach 2" removed. And I took off the thermostate figuring might as well do that too... even harder to reach. I'm about to have to have this thing towed just to put it back together I am so frusterated. I just dont get how anyone can reach all the areas with any kind of tool to scrape of the gaskets.

And I am still faced with what is causing my noise. After doing some more research here it seems the idler and alternator have been known to cause similar noise. When spinning the alternator I can here a mild clicking noise. Is that normal? As for all the pulleys the only other thing I noticed is the one in the bottom left corner (when facing the front of the engine) seemed to be just a little bit loose maybe. Its definately something belt driven as when I took off the belt the noise went away. With a serpentine I dont know how to check anything individually.

Well anyways, probably will have to drive my dam bronco to work in the morning now, and the power steering on it is cutting in and out, that makes for interesting travel in the city.

 

There shouldn't be any clicking in the alternator. That could be the culprit.
I usually use a cordless drill with a small wire wheel attatchment to remove gasket material.

 

Good idea Jimmy. I will have to remember that next time I am doing one. Although I should be good for a while because it seems like I have replaced about 7 water pumps on my Dad's trucks in the last 3 years or so.

-Matt

 

Thanks for the drill/wirebrush idea, will try that shortly. Just got back from a trip to the parts store. Picked up some gasket remover spray, will see how good that works. Oh and I recommend when your scraping of your gasket to make sure to remove the catch pan you used to drain the coolant... theres a few gallons wasted with crud floating in it and another thing to make my day worse. Well maybe I'll swing by valvoline after, I just got the coolant flushed and filled there, and they suppose to top of your fluids between visits.