Noob water pump question

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d'oh

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taking this off the main board as most of the questions I've asked there assume more wrenching knowledge than I've got (almost none).

my water pump is completely shot and pouring coolant like a waterfall. my local mechanic is pretty sick of seeing me, after recently replacing both the alternator and crankshaft pulley (on separate trips) and an initial misdiagnosis on the cooling system leak situation.

can I get an honest estimate of how much time it would take me to figure out how to replace the water pump myself? from searching the main board it looks like there's a lot of stuff that needs to come out. LC has recently been downgraded (upgraded?) from daily driver to hunt truck, so no real hurry, though she needs to be running well by the end of November.

many thanks.
 
This problem leads me to beleive that it is an '85 FJ60.
 
long time lurker (mostly on the main tech board), very spotty poster. I posted up about 2 years ago before I moved to Mississippi and was looking for a mechanic.

truck is a mostly stock 1985 FJ60, only mods are a 2 inch lift (approx) from the PO, a Weber carb (I'm switching to stock Aisan once I get all the other stuff squared away...), K&N air filter, big old wilderness basket rack that needs a floor (if anyone has a good lead on cheap expanded steel), and lots of texas pinstripes (scratches).

I've been through a few rounds of headaches and these days it's mainly the cooling system, I'm hoping a new water pump will put this round to bed, but need to know if it's something I should take a shot at myself or whether I should just leave it with the mechanic and suck up the labor (and leaning toward the latter).

fyi, I'm up north of most of you, if I remember right, I live just east of oxford. thanks for any guidance on the water pump issue, the more I think about it the more I'm thinking I'm going to send it back to the local guy.
 
Gotcha.

Replacing the pump should take about 2 hours, so plan on half a day.

If you are going to do the pump, go ahead and do the fan clutch too.

Switch the system to toyota Red coolant. You have to ask for Red colant at the dealership now, they have 2 colors.

If the fan shroud is pissing you off take a dremel tool and cut it down the side on both side. You will be cutting it horizontaly on both the driver and passenger side. This way you can take the top bolts off of the shroud, allowing you to get the shroud out of the way and makeing the belts, fan clutch and water pump very easy to do. Cutting the fan shroud doesn't affect the cooling.

My truck actually runs too cool with new clutch, pump, red coolant and factory 180* thermostat. I need to switch to a 190*, but I never get around to it. I ususally have a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator for a couple of months in the winter.

Post up more questions or if something I said doesn't make sense.

HTH
 
I did waterpump, thermostat and housing this summer as part of the headgasket complex. My truck runs cool and steady now.

Greg is right, its about a 2 hour job. I allowed 24 hours for the hightack goop to I used on the gasket to set, then I started it. Be careful removing the bolts. No fun getting one stuck. I broke one off and had to replace the thermostat housing--the aluminum crumbles like cheese if you aren't careful.

One other thing I learned: make sure the thermostat goes in the right direction with the rubber gasket in place or your heater won't heat properly. I had semi-heat till I figured out what was wrong--a leftover from a previous "mechanic" (ie no upper gasket--its a small rubber ring which should come with the new toyota tstat--)

If you and Ben want to get together we could have a 2f wrenching party.

I just removed the fan housing for the job. Saves alot of arm twisting and eases the bolt removal process. With some careful shimmying the housing should slip out after the bolts are removed.
 
Thanks to you both. I need to get a FSM, and may give it a shot. Barry I would take you up on it I were any closer, but she would not make it down to Jacktown in this state. I'll post back when I get it squared away (or have parts spread out all over my driveway and don't know where they go...).
 
ps40-2 said:
I've always been able to get mine out when I need to get down in there. It takes some manuevering but it's worth the effort.
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NICE!!!
 
ps40-2 said:
I've always been able to get mine out when I need to get down in there. It takes some manuevering but it's worth the effort.
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:grinpimp: :grinpimp: EVERYTIME :grinpimp: :grinpimp:

CHRIS
 
Depending how far east of Oxford you are, if you want to ever try a different mechanic...Tom Holley @ Auto Medic in Tupelo (about 5 mins off Hwy 6 ( off Cliff Gookin) near THS is the best Cruiser mechanic in town. He worked on my junk for about 12 years. I'm pretty sure I paid his snap-on bill more than a few times...great guy.

Good Luck!
 
chattfj40 said:
Depending how far east of Oxford you are, if you want to ever try a different mechanic...Tom Holley @ Auto Medic in Tupelo (about 5 mins off Hwy 6 ( off Cliff Gookin) near THS is the best Cruiser mechanic in town. He worked on my junk for about 12 years. I'm pretty sure I paid his snap-on bill more than a few times...great guy.

Good Luck!
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks. Tom's probably 35 minutes from my house, but I will keep it in mind next time I've got a bigger project than my local guys want to deal with.
 
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