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The other week I heard this odd bearing-like noise from my GF's '99 9-3 (204L). Using a stethescope, I figured on the water pump (though the steering pump is leaking too). Ordered the Hepu pump from Eeuro along with thermo and hoses. I know there are some here that don't like the Hepu, but a local foreign car parts place swears by them, Volvo and BMW nuts swear by them, and it's cheaper.
Yesterday, my GF says something's rattling like something is loose. As soon as she popped the hood, I looked and told her to stop the car right away - the WP pulley was wobbling and starting to scrape the timing cover. JUST IN ITME!!!! She had been driving with the noise all day. I haven't been able to do the swap because it's been so cold in NH. Luckily I had gotten my order from Eeuro already. If I had to get it from my local foreign supplier, it would have been $130 for the Hepu half pump!
SO HERE'S MY OBSERVATIONS:
If your pulley was wobbling badly, don't bother with the half pump. My pulley was just starting to wobble. On the inside, there is a section where the impeller comes extremely close to the housing. My slight wobble was enough for the impeller to have just started scraping into the back housing. It seems as if the wobble was worse, it may have made the back housing useless.
I have one of those spring clamp pliers where the grabbing end is at the end of a long cable. It was a godsend in getting to all those clips - especially since some of them are facing really PIA directions. There's no way I could have done some of the clamps without it. I suspect it was easy enough when the engine was assembled out of the car (it was the original pump - 170K miles), but do get to them after the fact is another story.
I left the aluminum intake pipe attached to the turbo. It was a little in the way when accessing the little screw at the back of the pump, but it was definitely doable.
In order to get to the thermostat housing bolts (and be able to fit a torque wrench head), I had to undo the bracket that holds the throttle body cover and a few connectors at the back of the head. I also noticed that the throttle cable was wearing through one of the wiring jackets - whew.
When putting all together, it definitely helps to keep the mounting bolts, the little back bolt, and the other brace bolts on the left of the engine loose. Tighten the little back bolt, then the mounting bolts then the brace bolts.
The bottom mounting bolt of the water pump is blind - you just can't see it. Also, it was a little weird getting to it because there is a connector at the top of the AC compressor that is kind of in the way. Rather than unbolt that connector, I used a thin extension to get pass it. Even then, it was grabbing the bolt at a slight angle, but not bad.
That hidden steering pump bolt was a pain to get back in because it's a little blind. For me, the easiest way to do it was to use one of those telescopic pickup tools with a medium sized magnetic head. Put the upper bolt loosely first so finding the lower bolt hole is just a matter of swinging the pump along it's axis. I used the magnetic head to grab the head of the bolt and stick it through the pulley hole and start the bolt. I tried to do it with a socket and extension, but kept dropping the bolt.
For me, it was easiest to mount the pump, then fit the small u-hose, then the lower radiator hose because of how tight the space is with all the clamps - YMMV.
I didn't loctite the mounting bolts or anything - should I have? I didn't see anything about thread locker in Haynes, WIS, or any post and the bolts did not seem like it had any to begin with, so I'm assuming it shouldn't be a problem.
posted by 98.229.227...
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