water pump replacement turns into a big project

[will e]

Okay, maybe not a timing chain and cam swap. But my water pump gave it up. I dreaded pulling off the accessories. The AMC/Jeep engineers must have had a good laugh when they came up with the accessory system. It was probably a conglomeration of years of add ons.

To add to that my Jeep has history. A father in law who was good at mechanical stuff but started to lose it. An engine swap with a funky 3 bolt harmonic balancer. An attempt at a cs144 install. Several attempts to make the 2 belt crank and additional after market 3rd belt pulley to make it all work. A mix mash of power steering pumps.

A stripped bolt hole for the alternator added to the mix.

So I decided it was time to 'make it right'. What a pain. Two AC bolts were missing. One of the alternator bracket bolts was too long. The stripped bolt hole ended up being in the AC bracket and not the block itself (yes!).

I added a tab to the Jeep excel spread sheet and documented each bolt, the condition of the threads in the head/block, the thread size and the bolt length. I ended up replacing one bolt with a stud, added a few bolts and replaced some that were too long. The stripped AC bracket hole was enlarged to the next size with the use of a die/tap.

When I fired it up the 'weird' noises were mostly gone but, alas, the alternator gave out on me. I think the extra tension I was able to put on it was just too much for it. I took it to the local parts store and it tested bad.

Anyways.. thanks for reading my story. I spent the last couple of days getting it all straightened out. It will be nice to have it 'right'

[jsinajeep]

[FSJ Guy]

Water pump replacements are never as easy as you expect. Glad to hear it didn't involve easy outs or tapping the block!

[243]

It's so much easier to sell an FSJ with a bad water pump and buying another with a good pump, working on FSJ #5 now

[letank]

Taking big risk.... on the timing chain?
My last and first change on the 85, resulted in the chain replacement, not being the owner of the previous 20 years lead me to removing a few bolts, and indeed, even if the timing mark did not wander, the chain was toast.

Cheers for supporting the father in law...

[Loner]

Anybody that has worked on these jeeps enough has gone through this kind of stuff.
Long ago my father would tell me just stop trying to make it better than the engineers that had millions to spend on engineering it. I know he was right!
BUT I'm going to figure out some way to improve on that joke of a pulley system.
Jeeps are built not bought!

[will e]

Taking big risk.... on the timing chain?
My last and first change on the 85, resulted in the chain replacement, not being the owner of the previous 20 years lead me to removing a few bolts, and indeed, even if the timing mark did not wander, the chain was toast.

Cheers for supporting the father in law...

The engine has about 30K miles on it since the rebuild. I plan on pulling the engine out later this year and am going to see if I can seal up all of the oil leaks. (Although I do think I found one, turns out the top left large bolt that holds an alternator bracket, water pump and timing chain cover had bottomed out just before getting tight. I replaced it with a long stud and am hopeful this will stop or more likely slow down the leak at the timing cover)

[rstep]

Don't pull it in June or July Mike

[Nikkormat]

Ha! You think these water pumps are bad? Look at putting a water pump in a diesel Volkswagen Tuareg! You have to pull the intake, heads, front dress, radiator, timing gears, and the hard lines that cool the alternator. Quotes out to... 27 hours!

If any of you guys wanna unload an AMC with a bad water pump I'll fly in with my tools and a pump and get that "hard" pump problem off your plate. All it'll cost you is one antifreeze stain in your driveway.

Anybody ever try and do a power steering pump in a s-10? Or any 4.3 for that mater? Now that sucks. Not as much as a diesel tuareg but close.


I actually really like the amc bracketry design. Especially the two piece alternator bracket. That there is a good design, and FYI you only have to remove the power steering pump and bracket part way to do the pump. Everything else stays where it is. Like I said... Good little design!

[will e]

Ha! The power steering pump bracket bolting on the front is a pretty good design. Having the hold down bolts blocked by the valve cover is another discussion.

Others may suck even more. But I have to admit one of the 'nice' things about my wife's 3.7 power tech is the serpentine belt system and the brackets. The AC, Alternator and power steering pump all bolt into place nice a solid. The belt adjuster is easy to remove as well and installing the belt is a breeze.

Back to my jeep...
So when I fired up the Jeep the alternator was dead. Nada, nothing. I picked up a new one. Sure enough it was clocked backwards and the hold for the long bolt wasn't big enough. I got is ready for installation and sure enough it was a pain to get the long bolt into head, just not enough room to maneuver. I pulled the battery and that gave me room and line of sight and I got it in.

So I fired it up and what a difference. No chirping. No squealing. The voltmeter jumped to 13.9 volts right away. I can hear the exhaust leaks so much better now... Oh, I can't wait to try the A/C.

[Stuka]

I would love to smack the guy at AMC that developed the serpentine system for early 80's 258s. There is no spring loaded tensioner. So you have to loosen many bolts to rotate the alternator assembly to tighten and loosen. And then after its all together, you need to re-tighten it every few days for a few weeks as the belt stretches.

The water pump on my '75 was a piece of cake though. Took about 2 hours. But it had no A/C, which helped clean up the engine compartment.

[Loner]

Glad you got it fixed Will e! My exhaust leaks are loud and clear also.

Hey Nikkormat everything is easy to work on after you rebuild a couple of Bobcat skid stears.

Loner

[Nikkormat]

Skid steers... Yeah, working on a diesel engine in a small metal box does not sound fun at all. That sounds like crap.

Trick to the vlave cover is to put the socket on first the slide the wrench into the socket. It comes out in one piece OK. If it won't fit, and this would be useful either way, go spend a little money on a 7/16, 1/2, 9/16 racheting wrench. They'll save almost an hour of work. Especially on that darn fan clutch.

[jaber]

Glad you got it fixed Will e! My exhaust leaks are loud and clear also.

Hey Nikkormat everything is easy to work on after you rebuild a couple of Bobcat skid stears.

Loner

Lol, try getting into the pivot of a Grove 40t off road crane.
Most all of today's 4 &6 cyl cars have the water pump driven by the timing belt. I've had to deal with a few that were nightmares...