Water pump leak after change out
 

So got the timing belt squared away and she fires right up.

Filled with coolant and got a leak at the water pump, not at the pump itself but the copper line that goes into the engine. Replaced the seal with the new pump.

anyway to get that out without taking the whole pump off? anyone have luck backing up with gasket sealer at that location?

Pipe not copper but steel, pipe doesn't go into engine but connects to a heater hose behind the motor. Sealant may work as a half measure but not reliably. You most likely pinched the O ring when fitting the pump onto the pipe.

Yup the O-ring got pinched

Attachment 8461

Figured just take the thing off again, so need a new paper gasket anyway. I have a bunch of regular o-rings, not sure if using two of those to get the thickness is a good idea?

Probably will have to get the other gasket but probably have to get the "kit" with the gasket and both o rings.

I would NOT use a generic rubber ring or two on that pipe! Buy the part, it's less than a $1. In the past under emergency conditions I have gotten away with using no paper gasket, just sealant like RTV, for the pump, but still, not worth for cheap money... And don't put any sealant on the other ring that seals the pump to the head...

I agree, after thinking about it, made no sense to doctor it up. I had to order gasket for the pump anyway so I just ordered the kit that had all three, just have to make sure i put that on in the right way this time.

Had to order inner tie rods so threw that in there too. Funny story, found out my 1993 240 Wagon has a steering rack from a mid 80's car instead of the 1993, I'm guessing it must have been swapped out at some point obviously. Went to order inner tie rods and need the female end and the 1993 was only showing male ends, guys at FCP looked things up and found the female ends were from 79-87ish. Got to love auction cars lol

AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Got new O-ring and gasket. Got O-ring in with no issues, got top rubber seal in perfect, had gasket surface spotless.

Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip. Right at the very bottom of the pump housing.

WTF

Will this possibly go away after I have the car running with the water pump going? Currently all the belts are still off and I don't want to put it all back together if I just have replace this stupid gasket................again.

did you torque the bolts to 14 ft-lbs? or actually it was 16ft-lbs I believe....I did mine yesterday and have not put on the cyl head and fired it up so won't know if it will leak....

you know 16 ft-lbs seems a lot and was afraid of busting a bolt that came with the pump...SO I ONLY TORQUED THE BOLTS TO 13FT-LBS...(NEW TORQUE WRENCH) +-2FT-LBS...IF IT LEAKS I WILL TORQUE TO 16 AND CROSS MY FINGERS

DOUBLE CHECK THE TORQUE SPECS OFF OF YOUR BOOKS....DON'T WANT TO GIVE YOU BAD INFO.

Well this b!tch is giving me fits now. Damn her!!!

I couldn't find any torque specs in the Bentley book, I was almost positive I probably over torqued them to begin with to try to get rid of the leak.

So I figured I would back them off a bit and re-torque, and 15ft-lbs sounded about right. First one fine, second one fine, third one, the one by the heater pipe, you guessed it SNAP.

I think the bolts that came with this pump are junk, they have almost no weight to them, fortunately (for once) I had enough of it left to back it out with no issue so I don't have to try to drill that out, thankfully!!

So, off to get another gasket, although it was only wet at the leaking point, but probably better to replace it. I might throw some sealant with it to see what happens. I hate water pumps, geesh!!

She will be out of the garage by Summer LOL or fall

Hmmm, I never torque water pumps, I've probably done a hundred or so, I go by feel... Most torque wrenches are not great at lower settings. I always use sealant on pumps... I glue the gasket to the pump, I put a bead on the gasket and slap it on--never leak!

Why did you use the bolts that came with the new pump? What was wrong with the old ones? In many cases you are throwing away OEM parts for cheap from wherever bits that are of inferior quality. The water pumps bolts can be used over and over...

Thanks a lot Lev, my wife said the same thing! Maybe I should let her work on the car?..............second thought, no, she'll probably do it better and right the first time.

Pump is on with original bolts, sealant and resting comfortably, will fill her up tomorrow and should have ZERO leaks this time.

I think the holes were probably not drilled right to specs, was a pain in the butt getting the bolts to line up through the pump holes.