Water Pump Replacement

[PeterAllen]

Another day filled with exitement with the waterpump spewing coolant out.
Happened just before I could get home. with the following events
Heard a fan squeel like when the fan belt is loose, then heard something banging around in the engine and pulled over to investigate. Coolant was all over the place but nothing seemed loose of obviously broken and flapping around. Engine started and alternator light came on some vibration from front end and pulled over again to check.
What is that about?
Need a new water pump in Sydney and ideas?
Do you need that special tool for the fan removal or is there another way.
Does the van nut undo clockwise or anticlockwise?

[Keithy P38]

It is the season! My water pump died on Sunday, I replaced it on Tuesday.

The nut is a 36mm, I use a large flat head screwdriver from the airbox side fed through the top water pump pulley bolt on the drivers side as ballast and spun the 36mm spanner from passenger to drivers side to remove the fan.

Cheers
Keithy

[PeterAllen]

Thanks Keithy,
where did you get the pump from

[Keithy P38]

I always have a spare water pump, I buy mine from island 4x4 online. Less than $100 to my door!

[p38arover]

Try Karcraft at Silverwater or BMI at Mulgrave. They might be open tomorrow. I think KLR Auto are open tomorrow.

Re undoing the VC, that question has been answered so many times on this forum. Undo it in the same direction that the fan rotates.

[parasnoop67]

Mine is a normal thread so you have to hit the spanner from right to left and it takes a good sharp wack to start it.
Re the spanner I was able to buy a cheap shifter from Bunnings which opens to 38mm or so. Cost under $20.

[PaulP38a]

I bought the LR tool from somewhere in the UK for around $50. Makes taking the fan off so easy!

[PeterAllen]

Not sure what all the fuss was about. Fan was off in less than a minute with a shifter and large screwdriver to wedge on the gear nut. I even have all the skin on my knuckles.
Water pump bearings had completely collapsed and will also have to replace the fan as a few blades have pieces missing and no doubt it wont be balanced.

Everything is cleaned and waiting for new pump and fan, still have not been able to source the parts as everyone is closed up this week.
Hopefully they will all be back to work at Karcraft on Monday.
Once this is sorted I can get back to the EAS valve block rebuild.
Happy new year to all

[PeterAllen]

New water pump in, new fan and we are back in business. Trickiest bit was starting the fan bolt on the thread. Got the pump and fan from Karcraft Australia and paid a bit more for the OEM pump.
Thanks for assistance once again.

[wayneg]

A new water pump Is winging its way to me after a loss of coolant today. Thought it was the water pump but after removing the pump found a small hole in the bottom hose close to the pump. The pump bearing was well past its best with quite a wobble when checked. Those who can get the fan off in minutes have my respect. I could have sawn mine off quicker and kept looking at the angle grinder as time went by. I could easily get an adjustable wrench on the nut but could not get anything to lock it up to break the locktight. In the end I removed one of the 3 pulley bolts and wedged an allen key, short end into the back of the pulley bolt hole to lock it up.
I had only been driving for a few minutes on the beach returning from an overnight fishing trip when I noticed the temp gauge rising. I must put the coolant level warning at the top of my must do list as this was a lucky escape.

[Hoges]

FWIW : Just a note on coolant replacement: The GMH product (red coloured concentrate) they sell for the LS1 V8 engine is excellent in the 4.0/4.6 aluminium engines... Have used it for 5 years and the radiator is sparking clean (checked it with a "snake" camera attached to laptop):p

Edit: I know, I know, the laptop was too big to fit into the outlet ....

[wayneg]

I though I would have a read up on the viscous nut undoing as I am obviously not up to speed and have the battle wounds all over my hands to prove my fight was long and hard.
I came across this write up on Landyzone which made me smile and gave me a bit of pride back as I did not resort to the angle grinder

I love these guys who see the question about changing the P38 Range Rover V8 water pump, quickly look it up on RAVE and then write knowledgeably, ‘Easy job – say about 2 hours’
This is the story of changing mine on my 1998 4.0 P38. It is a long saga of anger, of wounded pride, bloodshed and broken bones ...

When my P38 started losing a little bit of water I had a good look round, but it wasn’t until the old girl became incontinent and I noticed the little puddle of coolant dripping down from the front of the V8 that I realised the water pump was shot. So I naively ordered the 36mm fan nut spanner and the water pump from eBay.

Plan A
When they arrived I had a day left before I went back to work, so I put on my thermals and leaned into an arctic blizzard to open the RR bonnet. The only thing that went without a hitch was taking off the upper radiator shroud, after that it went rapidly downhill. I gave the hub spanner a couple of taps (anti-clockwise) with a hammer, hoping to release the fan nut, but no dice. Realising I was going to need some serious torque on the nut to shift it I took some time to cut a piece of thin timber to trap it between one of the pulley boltheads and the ground, then I slid a 3’ piece of scaffold-pole over the hub spanner and prepared to hit it as hard as I could with a 6lb sledgehammer.
Luckily, my local Casualty was not busy, so x-raying my left hand to find the cracked bone didn’t take too long. The doctor turned out to be a 4X4 guy, and when I told him I was working on my P38 he said sympathetically, “You weren’t trying to take off the water-pump, were you?”
When I got back to the Range Rover standing forlornly with the bonnet open in the biting cold I realised I needed a plan B. So I closed the bonnet, went indoors and ordered a replacement fan (£20 off eBay), a tube of red Hermetite (yeah, I know I’m an old codger but I’ve never had a Hermetited gasket leak) and a 4” general purpose cutting disk for my angle grinder.

Plan B
The viscous radiator fan is a huge affair with a big outer plastic ring. It seriously restricts the clearance and access to the water-pump, so using the angle grinder and the GP cutting blade I cut three blades and the associated outer ring away, leaving 100 degrees of clear access. There was still not enough room to use my angle-grinder on the hub nut – that would be far too easy - but this was enough to pull off the outlet hose, remove the 3 pulley bolts, leaving enough clearance for the 9 water pump bolts (CAREFUL – keep these bolts in order. I used a heavy piece of card with a tracing of the water-pump gasket and pushed each bolt through the card to keep them until I was ready for them. Some are 3” long and look like they access an oil gallery and a water channel, so don’t get them confused).
With the pump bolts out the water pump fell off (although you may need to tap it off) and the pump together with the loose pulley and the banjaxed fan all came out without damaging the fragile radiator in front of it. I removed it to the bench. Here, the pulley wheel is now trapped between the pump and the fan, so at this stage you’ll be thinking that one can trap up the impeller blades in order to free the fan nut. Good idea, I thought, so I trapped the impeller in my 6” bench vice and used the aforementioned length of scaffold pole and sledgehammer and gave hub spanner a good whack.
Yes of course the impeller stripped off the shaft, the scaffold pole leapt into the air and skinned all the knuckles on my right hand! Standing there, holding my hand out so I didn’t drip blood down my jeans and wiping my dirty face with my other bandaged hand, I must have looked like an extra from Gladiator, but without the muscles.
The pulley had to come off. Both the fan and the pump were junk, so I didn’t have to be delicate; I needed another plan.

Plan C.
Using a new metal cutting disk on my angle grinder I cut an X through the pump shaft where the impeller had been, then cut all of the shaft as far into the body of the pump as I could. Then I used a drift to drive the shaft through the water pump body, freeing the pulley at last. The remainder of the work was very easy, taking no more than half an hour.
I cleaned away any loose part of the old gasket, then I hermetited both sides of the new gasket and bolted up the new water pump, resited the pulley wheel and the pump hose, put the fan-belt back, filled up the coolant, ran the car and checked for leaks. When I was certain everything was okay and not a second before, I put the replacement viscous fan on.

Conclusion.
By all means buy the 36mm hub spanner if you like. You might even be adventurous enough to try it, but believe me, after thirteen years of electrolysis in the fine thread between the steel hub and the alloy fan body, nothing short of a 10 kiloton nuclear detonation would shift the fan hub on mine.

Pain-Free Method
Replace the Fan as well as the pump (second-hand fans are quite cheap).
Cut away the existing plastic fan to get access to the pump outlet hose and the pump pulley.
Undo the pump outlet hose.
Undo the three pulley nuts, freeing the pulley.
Undo the 9 water pump bolts; some are 10mm; three are 11mm, keep them in order.
Remove the water pump and fan from the engine bay.
Using an angle grinder and metal-cutter disk, cut a very deep X through the impeller shaft, then remove as much of the shaft as possible right down to the housing, then tap the shaft through the pump body with a drift to free the pulley.
This way you would accomplish the whole job in two hours, provided that you have all the tools to hand.
Parts & Tools
Replacement fan; new water pump, red Hermetite, 10,11,12,13mm sockets, ring spanners. Angle grinder, GP cutting disk, metal cutting disk, safety glasses and heavy gloves.
Reply With Quote

[wayneg]

In this video from RSW Solutions it shows how easy it is but you do need the correct tool to lock the waterpump.

Range Rover - How To Replace Water Pump P1 - YouTube

[Hoges]

I though I would have a read up on the viscous nut undoing as I am obviously not up to speed and have the battle wounds all over my hands to prove my fight was long and hard.
I came across this write up on Landyzone which made me smile and gave me a bit of pride back as I did not resort to the angle grinder

I love these guys who see the question about changing the P38 Range Rover V8 water pump, quickly look it up on RAVE and then write knowledgeably, ‘Easy job – say about 2 hours’
This is the story of changing mine on my 1998 4.0 P38. It is a long saga of anger, of wounded pride, bloodshed and broken bones ...

When my P38 started losing a little bit of water I had a good look round, but it wasn’t until the old girl became incontinent and I noticed the little puddle of coolant dripping down from the front of the V8 that I realised the water pump was shot. So I naively ordered the 36mm fan nut spanner and the water pump from eBay.

Plan A
When they arrived I had a day left before I went back to work, so I put on my thermals and leaned into an arctic blizzard to open the RR bonnet. The only thing that went without a hitch was taking off the upper radiator shroud, after that it went rapidly downhill. I gave the hub spanner a couple of taps (anti-clockwise) with a hammer, hoping to release the fan nut, but no dice. Realising I was going to need some serious torque on the nut to shift it I took some time to cut a piece of thin timber to trap it between one of the pulley boltheads and the ground, then I slid a 3’ piece of scaffold-pole over the hub spanner and prepared to hit it as hard as I could with a 6lb sledgehammer.
Luckily, my local Casualty was not busy, so x-raying my left hand to find the cracked bone didn’t take too long. The doctor turned out to be a 4X4 guy, and when I told him I was working on my P38 he said sympathetically, “You weren’t trying to take off the water-pump, were you?”
When I got back to the Range Rover standing forlornly with the bonnet open in the biting cold I realised I needed a plan B. So I closed the bonnet, went indoors and ordered a replacement fan (£20 off eBay), a tube of red Hermetite (yeah, I know I’m an old codger but I’ve never had a Hermetited gasket leak) and a 4” general purpose cutting disk for my angle grinder.

Plan B
The viscous radiator fan is a huge affair with a big outer plastic ring. It seriously restricts the clearance and access to the water-pump, so using the angle grinder and the GP cutting blade I cut three blades and the associated outer ring away, leaving 100 degrees of clear access. There was still not enough room to use my angle-grinder on the hub nut – that would be far too easy - but this was enough to pull off the outlet hose, remove the 3 pulley bolts, leaving enough clearance for the 9 water pump bolts (CAREFUL – keep these bolts in order. I used a heavy piece of card with a tracing of the water-pump gasket and pushed each bolt through the card to keep them until I was ready for them. Some are 3” long and look like they access an oil gallery and a water channel, so don’t get them confused).
With the pump bolts out the water pump fell off (although you may need to tap it off) and the pump together with the loose pulley and the banjaxed fan all came out without damaging the fragile radiator in front of it. I removed it to the bench. Here, the pulley wheel is now trapped between the pump and the fan, so at this stage you’ll be thinking that one can trap up the impeller blades in order to free the fan nut. Good idea, I thought, so I trapped the impeller in my 6” bench vice and used the aforementioned length of scaffold pole and sledgehammer and gave hub spanner a good whack.
Yes of course the impeller stripped off the shaft, the scaffold pole leapt into the air and skinned all the knuckles on my right hand! Standing there, holding my hand out so I didn’t drip blood down my jeans and wiping my dirty face with my other bandaged hand, I must have looked like an extra from Gladiator, but without the muscles.
The pulley had to come off. Both the fan and the pump were junk, so I didn’t have to be delicate; I needed another plan.

Plan C.
Using a new metal cutting disk on my angle grinder I cut an X through the pump shaft where the impeller had been, then cut all of the shaft as far into the body of the pump as I could. Then I used a drift to drive the shaft through the water pump body, freeing the pulley at last. The remainder of the work was very easy, taking no more than half an hour.
I cleaned away any loose part of the old gasket, then I hermetited both sides of the new gasket and bolted up the new water pump, resited the pulley wheel and the pump hose, put the fan-belt back, filled up the coolant, ran the car and checked for leaks. When I was certain everything was okay and not a second before, I put the replacement viscous fan on.

Conclusion.
By all means buy the 36mm hub spanner if you like. You might even be adventurous enough to try it, but believe me, after thirteen years of electrolysis in the fine thread between the steel hub and the alloy fan body, nothing short of a 10 kiloton nuclear detonation would shift the fan hub on mine.

Pain-Free Method
Replace the Fan as well as the pump (second-hand fans are quite cheap).
Cut away the existing plastic fan to get access to the pump outlet hose and the pump pulley.
Undo the pump outlet hose.
Undo the three pulley nuts, freeing the pulley.
Undo the 9 water pump bolts; some are 10mm; three are 11mm, keep them in order.
Remove the water pump and fan from the engine bay.
Using an angle grinder and metal-cutter disk, cut a very deep X through the impeller shaft, then remove as much of the shaft as possible right down to the housing, then tap the shaft through the pump body with a drift to free the pulley.
This way you would accomplish the whole job in two hours, provided that you have all the tools to hand.
Parts & Tools
Replacement fan; new water pump, red Hermetite, 10,11,12,13mm sockets, ring spanners. Angle grinder, GP cutting disk, metal cutting disk, safety glasses and heavy gloves.
Reply With Quote

:Rolling::Rolling::Rolling:

[wayneg]

A tip on reassembly.
Do not tension the serpentine belt before refitting the fan to the water pump.
If the pulley is still free you can turn it into the fan nut. If it is locked you have to spin the fan onto the thread which is a pain as the nut wants to spin. Other way is so much easier.