Replacing the Water Pump Info
 

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.

1. Disconnect the negative battery connections.
2. I began by draining the radiator by opening the valve at the bottom. Let this drain and move on to the next steps.
3. 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.
4. Carefully detach the plastic covers that are snapped in on top of the fan shroud.
5. Remove the two 8mm bolts that hold the front fan shroud to the radiator.
6. Get underneath the truck and disconnect the lower radiator hose slowly to minimize getting the rest of the coolant all over the place.
7. Disconnect the two transmission cooling lines that are attached to the bottom of the radiator.
8. Back on top of the radiator the two mounting brackets are removed by loosening the four 8mm bolts.
9. You now can pull the radiator forward allowing room to slowly pull the front fan shroud upward and out of the truck.
10. Follow this by slowly lifting up on the radiator and remove it from the truck. I did this to allow more working room.
11. At this point, the fan assembly needs to be removed to access the water pump.
12. Unclip the fan wire harness from the rear fan shroud.
13. 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.
14. Now pull the rear fan shroud forward to expose the fan clutch nut.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. Pull the belt out of the way and finish removing the pulley cover and plate.
19. 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.

Good post rep sent

fixxxer-upper:

thanks for the post!

Awesome, I hope this gets copied and pasted into Bismics huge knowledge base!

With some help from a person on another Forum, I have pictures to add to the write-up!

Water Pump pic:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...pictureid=8588

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).

Impeller upgrade pic:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12120

1. Disconnect the negative battery connections.
2. I began by draining the radiator by opening the valve at the bottom. Let this drain and move on to the next steps. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12121
3. 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.
4. Carefully detach the plastic covers that are snapped in on top of the fan shroud. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12122
5. Remove the two 8mm bolts that hold the front fan shroud to the radiator. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12123
6. Get underneath the truck and disconnect the lower radiator hose slowly to minimize getting the rest of the coolant all over the place. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12124
7. Disconnect the two transmission cooling lines that are attached to the bottom of the radiator. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12125
8. Back on top of the radiator the two mounting brackets are removed by loosening the four 8mm bolts. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12126
9. You now can pull the radiator forward allowing room to slowly pull the front fan shroud upward and out of the truck.
10. Follow this by slowly lifting up on the radiator and remove it from the truck. I did this to allow more working room.
11. At this point, the fan assembly needs to be removed to access the water pump.
12. Unclip the fan wire harness from the rear fan shroud. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12127
13. 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. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12128
14. Now pull the rear fan shroud forward to expose the fan clutch nut.
15. 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. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12129
16. 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.
17. 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. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12130 https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12131
18. Pull the belt out of the way and finish removing the pulley cover and plate.
19. 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. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12132 https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=12133

fixxxer-upper - hope you don't mind me adding on to your very helpful post.

(ps - if you are reading this for the first time, send some more rep points his way)

Thanks bismic.

Just replaced the water pump in my 04 Excursion yesterday. I would add that it may be easier to access the fan nut with the intake side boost tube and the air cleaner removed. My fan was torqued to 10k ft lbs. Other than that, great write up. Helped a ton.

Thanks
 

Great help changing the pump. Definitely needed the 18" pipe wrench.

Need help on clarification on number 4. "Carefully detach the plastic covers that are snapped in on top of the fan shroud"

Do I need to ply any tap/clip to pull the cover off? Can this be done with just pulling the cover straight up, doesn't look like I can just pull by hands alone.

Thanks,

I used a couple flat screw drivers. there are 6 or 8 clips and you can pry them carefully 2 at a time.

Thank you, I'll try that.

I use a tiny screw driver with a 1/8" wide blade to pry them one at a time from drivers side to passenger side pulling as I pry. The shield has square holes and the shroud has tabs. Go on either side of the tab with the screwdriver prying the bottom of the "hole" out and pull up about 1/8", working your way from one side to the other.

Finaly got it out, the shroud looks like it never been taken off. I made a few scatch to the holes that house the tabs. I can't believed that this thing never been off for it first 127,000miles.

Just bought this Excursion two months ago and it has 130,600 miles now.

2005 excursion with 68,000 miles on it. Just bought it. When should the water pump be replaced? First diesel, so I am starting to do my research.

If you arent having an overheating problem, i wouldnt worry about it.