darrensls1

Fist of all, what a nightmare this has been. My water pump was leaking from the weep hole so I ordered a new one along with a new 180 thermostat. I watched video's on youtube to see how it's done and figured it would be a relatively easy job that should take me maybe 2-3 hours. Boy was I wrong. It's been a 3 day project where everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. So I took out the air intake, disconnected the battery and then drained out all the coolant. Then I wedged a heavy duty contractor bag between the water pump and the opti spark as a protective measure. I then removed all the hoses from the water pump, removed the belt and got five of the six bolts out easily even though the drivers side bottom bolt caused a flood of coolant leaking out of my block.

So far so good. Then the dreaded middle bolt on the drivers side. The PS pulley is in the way along with two small rubber hoses. In the video the guy just says try to push the hoses to the side. That was not working for me at all.I even had a swivel attachment but could not get that darn bolt. So I went to autozone to rent a pulley remover tool. I figured I'll pull the PS pulley and reinstall it after the new pump is in. As I'm setting the two pieces around the pulley I dropped them both. One went through to the ground but the other got lost in the bottom of the engine somewhere. So much for removing the pulley.

It took me an hour of cussing, sweating and a soar back before I figured out the hoses could be moved. One was already disconnected from the air intake so all I had to do was wedge it between the PS pulley and water pump and then rotate the pulley to push it down and out of the way. The second one was connected on both ends but then I finally noticed it could be disconnected from the top and fed through the pulley as well. Now with both hoses out of the way the swivel was able to get me on the bolt and I was able to get it out. Then the water pump didn't want to come off the block. Twenty minutes and a lot of cussing later, the water pump broke free.

It's about 6 pm on Friday now and I'm soaked with sweat and grease. I'm also over 50 so my stamina isn't what it used to be. All I want to do is get the old pump out and then call it a day. I could not get the pump out of the engine bay. It didn't matter what way I twisted or turned it, it was always hitting something that prevented it's removal. I went online and watched every video I could find and no one ever showed them actually removing the water pump. Then I saw what looks like a spark plug wire going from the opti spark on the drivers side, over the water pump and connects to something over on the passenger side. I removed this wire and the pump came out. I held the stupid thing over my head like it was a trophy and called it a night.

I start up again Saturday about 1 PM. I had to scrape off the old gaskets from the block and that proved to be really hard. They were on there good and my hands could barely get in there with a razor. It was very slow going and some areas I just couldn't reach. I searched my garage and eventually found some wire brushes that look like tooth brushes. One of them was for metal so I used that to grind away the stuff I couldn't get with the razor. The guy in the video used gasket sealer on both sides of the gaskets and then attached them to the new pump before putting the pump in the car. So I tried it and let me tell you is does not work. First of all, I was getting gasket sealer over everything it touched and the gaskets kept moving out of position or would fall off entirely. So I tried attaching them directly to the block with sealer and that didn't work any better. One or both would shift or fall off entirely.

Two hours later, I finally figure out the best way to do this was put the new pump in the engine bay, feed all six bolts through and then attach the gaskets to the bolts. Then I shimmy'd the pump into place. Only problem was darn thing was not seating into the coupling. I had to pull it out, remove the gaskets, remove the bolts, pull it from the engine bay. spin the spindle a tiny bit and then re-install. This time it did seat in and I was able to get the bolts tightened down. Then I saw the spark plug wire sitting on my tool box. So I unbolted the pump, slid it back, plugged the wire back in and re-installed the new pump. Even with the small hoses out of the way that last bolt was a nightmare. Now it's about 6 pm and I am spent not to mention soaked with sweat and grease. So I called it a day.

So day 3 and I am ready to put it back together. I head down to the garage and put a new belt on. Then I connect all the hoses to the new pump and put my air box back in. At this point I fill up with new anti-freeze and re-connect my battery. Finally the moment of truth. I go to start the car and it wont start. It cranks and cranks but will not start. I have a eighteen year old step son out there with me and he tells me he is smelling gas. I have not flooded a car since my old 1979 monte carlo. I didn't even know you could flood a modern fuel injected car (not that 1995 is all that new). So my fear is that even with the bag, I killed the opti spark. Then I noticed I had forgotten to hook up the cable to the EGR on the air intake. Not sure if that would keep the car from starting or not. I also noticed grease and sweat on my keys so I dried off the drivers key cause it has that old school black chip in it. Maybe that was the problem. So I hooked that up and let the car sit for few hours. I tried to start the car again and it did start!

It was in the garage with the hood up so I shut it down, closed the hood and was going to pull it outside but the car failed to start again and I could smell gas by the time I realized the battery was dying. So again I think it's flooded. Now I got the charger on the battery and will try to start it in a few hours. If I get it started again then I will pull it outside and let it run for awhile to burn off that excess gas. Hopefully it starts up again for me.

Tom400CFI

It was at this point in the story that I thought to myself, "Holy ****...."

Sorry it was such a PITA for you. .



If you really think it's flooded, hold the throttle all the way down, "floored", while cranking. This will stop the injectors from firing and help it clear flood.

I'd re-check your "spark plug wire" running from the coil to the distributor.

darrensls1

Good news is that my stepson has smaller hands and arms then me so while I was transferring parts from the old pump to the new pump, he felt around where you cant see and found the missing part from autozones tool kit. So if I ever get the car started again, I can return it and get my forty bucks back.

djxib

I feel your pain! I am in the middle of a waterpump experience - but this was my #5 or #6 C4 waterpump so I didn't have any issues with bolts/pipes and I usually just rotate the engine with a wrench to get the adapter splines lined up. But - I did find the alternator bearings were toast (new alternator), and the idler and tension pulleys were bad (new pulleys), and the serpentine belt was old (new belt), and I broke the wiring plug going to the alternator (ordered a new pigtail from partsgeek, $40, need to wire it into the harness), and while in there I stupidly decided to do plugs and wires (also something I've done a few times, don't really know what I was thinking), then I found the radiator tank has a small split in it (can be repaired) and the lower coolant hose old and mushy (new hose). My "morning" waterpump job has kept my vette in the garage for over a week now, hoping to get it started today. Sheesh

fake

Just go to the junk yard and get some parts. That C4 water pump was like a walk in the park. Do you have automatic dimming head lights? Try fixing them with the no reference repair books on the subject. I swear Chilton repair books are use less, u tube it and get real results!

puterami

This made me chuckle.
Hoping you get the flooding figured out.

KyleF

I personally believe we have all be there with one project or another.

Re-look at all the areas you were working in and make sure all your electrical connections are tight.

playsdixie

I hear your pain.....just changed mine a few month ago....I had put different heads with roller rockers....the a/c bracket bolt ran all the way up to the rocker....had to turn the engine and with a lot of cursing, finally got it in.....not a fun job in any way......

darrensls1

This was very strange. So the car started the one time on Sunday but refused to start again after that. I charged up the battery and let the car sit overnight. I went to start the car today around 1 pm and it started right up. So I pulled it out of the garage and let it run for about 10 minutes to come up to temp. I shut it off and checked for leaks but everything looked good. I went to start it again and it sputtered but didn't start. I waited a few seconds and tried again and it started but held a very high idle for about 20 seconds before finally coming down to the normal idle.I shut it down and let it sit for awhile. I went to start it and this time it started up without a hitch. So I returned the rented tool kit and drove an hour to get to discount tires where they were supposed to install two new rear tires today. Only they ordered the wrong size.so it ended up being a waste of time.

I started the car to leave and while in reverse the car dies. I'm like "oh ****". I went to restart the car and it did start but just barely. It was sputtering and misfiring and wanted to die unless I kept heavy on the gas pedal. It did this for about thirty seconds and then it went to a normal idle and was suddenly acting fine again. I had a 30 minute ride to work from there and the car drove normally. So that's where I am at now. Hopefully it will start after work so I can get home. I think I might be holding my breath every time I start the car for awhile.

383vett

Maybe the plug wire was damaged when you were trying to remove the water pump and it was in the way.

puterami

Just a "ya know" thought, but this sounds as if you have had an injector or two go haywire at a coincidental time and sometimes stick open.

darrensls1

No worries. It's on my way to work anyway, They even upgraded my tires from $135 BFG's to $145 Cooper's for free. I went back to the store today to get the coopers put on and they make the car handle so much better.

darrensls1

So I left work and the car started right up but the low coolant light stayed on for awhile. I had bought a standard 1 gallon size of concentrated anti freeze and a gallon of distilled water to dilute with. So 2 full gallons went in. Not sure how much it holds but I figured that would be enough. Anyway other than the dummy light coming on, the car drove fine and never ran hotter than 210. I headed out to Walmart and got another gallon of concentrate and gallon of distilled water. When I removed the cap I was surprised to see the fluid was nearly to the top. But when I added some more it did sort of push the level down (kind of like when you add a bucket of water to a toilet). So I gave it as much as it would take and put the rest of that gallon in the overflow tank.

After that I drove to discount tires for my new Coopers and then headed off to work. The car did not do anything strange today and it started right up every time. I'll just be curious to see if the overflow tank has any fluid in it by tomorrow. I only say that because since the day I bought the car two years ago, it has never held any coolant in the overflow tank. I would put some in and it would always be gone by the next day. There maybe a hairline crack in the plastic or something. The radiator always stays full but the overflow tank is always dry.

Aerovette

You pretty much described every time I work on...anything. My mechanic's assistant, Murphy, is always ready to work on anything I do right along side me. He's especially talented at hiding 10mm sockets.