Re: EmergEncy!! Water pump replace went wrong!!!
Ironically, my water pump just bit the dust too last Sunday! I expected it, since it has been howling for a few months! The bearing finally failed and my belt flew off. My buddy rescued me with his car trailer.
The 4.9 water pump actually has 19 things holding it: seven 10mm nuts, two 15mm bolts, one 17mm bolt, six 10mm bolts, one 11mm bolt with a washer and nut on the back, and two T45 torx bolts. WAY TOO MANY! Since there are so many nuts and bolts, what I did was trace the new water pump on poster board, then write next to each dot what came off at each location. It worked great! No guessing when putting them back on!
Not sure how your gasket can be hard to keep in place since there are 7 studs sticking out to hang it on. The FSM does not mention using any kind of sealant, so I called my friend who is a tech at the local Cadillac dealer and he said NOT to use any kind of RTV or silicone, but it's a good idea to spray both sides of the gasket with high-tack spray, so I did. He did warn me not to be surprised if my timing cover started leaking after I was all done! He said when he does a water pump, he almost always replaces the timing cover gasket at the same time because they tend to start leaking. Well, I got lucky. Mine didn't leak when I was done!
The biggest pain in the butt was putting tension on the belt like the FSM says to do in order to loosen the bolts on the water pump pulley! It's like chewing gum and walking. Or sneezing with your eyes open. You have to use all your body weight to push down on the tensioner while at the same time unbolting the pulley. I didn't work! So I had to rig up a contraption as a second set of hands: a ratchet strap on a breaker bar, but the hooks kept sliding so I had to use vise grips to hold them in place. FINALLY, I got the pulley bolts off!
I totally agree, I would never, ever buy a used water pump. :tisk: Heck, a new one is only $34 and worth it. However, the gasket that came in mine was not a good fit! Two of the holes on the right didn't line up, so I had to removed the pump again and go get a Fel-Pro #35388, and it fit fine! I think the hardest part of the entire job was getting a torque wrench down in that small space to torque the nuts and bolts! The 10mm ones you can pretty much just tighten by hand since they only go 5 ft lbs, but the 15mm and 17 mm and torx bolts should be tightened to specs, which is 30 ft lbs.
WHO at Cadillac came up with the idea to use Torx bolts on a water pump??? You'll NEVER get a torque wrench on the pump pulley bolts, so what I did was hold it in place with a large screwdriver with a square shaft lodged between another bolt. It works, but only if your screwdrive has a square shaft. Round ones will keep slipping off.
Good luck! (If you haven't solved your problem yet). If you have any questions, just ask. It's all still in my head! That white page above is copied directly out of my FSM and it's only one page from start to finish.