Changing water pump

13965 Views 51 Replies 21 Participants Last post by lumenarti, Mar 25, 2022

cajun sol man

Discussion Starter · Sep 12, 2013

I'm getting ready to tackle a water pump replacement..I ordered the gear tool but i'm a little confused on what to order when it comes to the pump? Since the holding tool bolts to the gear, should I get the AC Delco OE 251-751?? It has the gear on it..or should I get the AC Delco pump without the gear which is a lot cheaper?? Would appricate it greately if someone could tell me what to order and part number if it's available..Thanks

21 - 40 of 52 Posts

FrankM

· #21 · Feb 16, 2014

Be Glad you dont have the 2.4 motor in a HHR , it sits sideways , doing the water pump on a solstice , its not bad .

duckSol

· #22 · Mar 28, 2015

TomatoSoup said:
The tool can be had for under $30 from Amazon now.

Still under $30:

But, I have one from O'Reilly that may work if I can find the pump cover :willy:

CrimsonKing

· #23 · Mar 30, 2015

My water pump needs replacing now too (at 50,000 miles). But it's not the water pump itself that failed, but the gasket, so it's leaking coolant. Still, they have to replace the whole pump - looking at up to 6 hours labor. Yikes.

spdygxp

· #24 · Mar 30, 2015

I did my water pump with the otc water pump tool worked out very nice no whine at all. Took about 8 hrs to do ,left turbo inplace

The_Ghost

· #25 · Mar 30, 2015

6 hours is normal....about $900 at the dealership to replace it. That's about right! I think it's 6.4 hours to be precise. Coolant flush it right away too.

CrimsonKing

· #26 · Mar 30, 2015

The_Ghost said:
6 hours is normal....about $900 at the dealership to replace it. That's about right! I think it's 6.4 hours to be precise. Coolant flush it right away too.

Thanks for the info!

duckSol

· #27 · Mar 30, 2015

CrimsonKing said:
My water pump needs replacing now too (at 50,000 miles). But it's not the water pump itself that failed, but the gasket, so it's leaking coolant. Still, they have to replace the whole pump - looking at up to 6 hours labor. Yikes.

I hope they are going to do the thermostat.
The tool from O'Reilly wasn't going to work so I ordered the half moon for $26 off Amazon.

TomatoSoup

· #28 · Mar 31, 2015

duckSol said:
The tool from O'Reilly wasn't going to work so I ordered the half moon for $26 off Amazon.

If you use the half-moon type BE VERY CAREFUL not to drop the bolt(s) inside the cover, 'cos they go right into the innards of the engine. Better to tape off the open area as much as possible, before you remove the bolts.

The_Ghost

· #29 · Apr 2, 2015

Well...GM just released an update on labor time for the WP....8.8 hours, which now makes this job $1000+.

KellyfromVA

· #30 · Apr 2, 2015

And if you replace the water pump or flush the system, remember to add anti-rust/water pump lubricant. I use Prestone brand, but Bars Leaks works too. My original pump is pushing 70,000 miles.

CrimsonKing

· #31 · Apr 2, 2015

I just got my 07 GXP (54K miles) back from the mechanic.

The water pump + new thermostat + cooling system flush was $860 ($650 labor + $190 parts + $20 Hazmat). He used the DDMworks WP install instructions that I gave him to some extent (DDMworks doesn't remove the turbo), but said he would probably just remove the turbo next time to make it easier to install the WP. So, just a tip, probably just remove the turbo if you're thinking about DIY. The water pump was $98.63, thermostat $45.97.

KellyfromVA, you betcha I'm putting water pump lubricant in! I don't want to have to do this again for a LONG time if I can help it. Thanks for the tip.

duckSol

· #32 · Apr 6, 2015

TomatoSoup said:
If you use the half-moon type BE VERY CAREFUL not to drop the bolt(s) inside the cover, 'cos they go right into the innards of the engine. Better to tape off the open area as much as possible, before you remove the bolts.

Will camo Duck Tape work? :thumbs:

The_Ghost said:
Well...GM just released an update on labor time for the WP....8.8 hours, which now makes this job $1000+.

I believe it! :cuss:

KellyfromVA said:
And if you replace the water pump or flush the system, remember to add anti-rust/water pump lubricant. I use Prestone brand, but Bars Leaks works too. My original pump is pushing 70,000 miles.

Mine lasted 86k. Thanks for the reminder :lurk:

raygun

· #33 · Feb 24, 2019 (Edited)

Old thread, but I'm in the middle of swapping the water pump on my GXP.

I started off following the DDM instructions. I'm not sure what sort of magical tools Dr. Dave has at his disposal, but I could not get the bottom bolts off of the lower thermostat housing to save my life. I wound up disconnecting the cat from the turbo and cat-back and wiggling it out of the way (not completely out of the car, just dropped back and down about 4" or so).

For the thermostat, I've not been able to get the rear bolt off of the upper housing as there's a wonderful hose clamp tab that's just above the bolt head, preventing me from getting a socket on it. There's not really enough room for any wrench that's more than about 3" long. A crows foot might work but I can't find a 10mm locally.

I bought the fancy cable-type hose clamp pliers, and still can't get the clamp to move. If there was room, I'd just cut the damn clamp off with an angle grinder. If anyone has any suggestions on that, I'm all ears. For the moment, I'm just skipping the thermostat and I'll come back to it later.

I bought the OTC 6616 full-circle pump gear holding tool for $40 off of Amazon:

The bolts for the tool itself are held to the tool with snap rings, so they won't fall out. The holes to access the bolts (screws?) in the gear are pretty deep and do a decent job of keeping them from falling down behind the timing cover. (Still, I was VERY careful. It would probably be smart to follow DDM's advice and pack the socket with Vaseline to make the bolts stick to the socket when removing them.)

It seems like the full-circle tool would do a better job of keeping the gear stable than the half-moon, as it bolts to the engine at four points instead of 3.

The last time I did this job, the head was off and the turbo (on my 2.4) was out. That makes it much easier. :|

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The_Ghost

· #34 · Feb 24, 2019

I sprayed the clamp with a little belt grease, put a big 10lbs pry bar on the clamp, and hit the other end of the pry bar with a rubber mallet. Spun it right around...easy peasy....of course I struggled for almost 2 weeks with that bolt and clamp.

Reactions: 1

raygun

· #35 · Feb 24, 2019

Great idea! Thanks!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Saveaux

· #36 · Feb 24, 2019

@raygun No helpful insight here, I'm just curious....how many miles on your GXP? A little water leak or did most the water dump out?

raygun

· #37 · Feb 24, 2019

Well, this is interesting:

Old pump on the left, new one on the right:

Part numbers on the box match up, but I'm not sure that new one is going to work with the old cover.

Any suggestions? It'll bolt up - same dimensions, bolt pattern, etc. - but the cover has a piece that mates up with that disk thingy that's covering the new pump blades. I'm having trouble imagining how that's going to work when it's running and spinning and things.

Help. :/

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raygun

· #38 · Feb 24, 2019

Saveaux said:
@raygun No helpful insight here, I'm just curious....how many miles on your GXP? A little water leak or did most the water dump out?

104k. Just loosing coolant *very* slowly, and nothing in the service history indicates it's ever been changed. So, hey, why not.

raygun

· #39 · Feb 24, 2019

So, Dr. Dave was kind enough to provide some insight. He said the new pump should be fine, just a new impeller design.

Let the reassembly saga begin.

Also, I went ahead and removed the plastic wheel well. That let me get my left hand under the pump which helped to rotate it around and get at some misc. bits.

lumenarti

· #40 · Mar 15, 2022

cajun sol man said:
I'm getting ready to tackle a water pump replacement..I ordered the gear tool but i'm a little confused on what to order when it comes to the pump? Since the holding tool bolts to the gear, should I get the AC Delco OE 251-751?? It has the gear on it..or should I get the AC Delco pump without the gear which is a lot cheaper?? Would appricate it greately if someone could tell me what to order and part number if it's available..Thanks

You do not need the gear. As a footnote. When refilling radiator you need to unhouse the coolant reservoir unclip the electric switch at bottom and hold the reservoir as high as you can when filling. Also unplug the hose on top of engine until coolant comes out of the nipple other wise you will have air in system

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