water pump replacement

[albsure]

Hi  guys, well i found that i have a bad water pump. leaking w/ water marks very sloppy shaft and it feels very rough when you turn it by hand.so i started tearing it apart ( by the book ) but it seems that the book leaves a lot out. they make it sound sooo simple. i have removed the power steering, alternator,and ac compressor. top part of the timing belt cover and  its still not ready to come out. are the 2 upper bolts the hidden ones that go through the ac compressor mounting bracket ??and should i have to dismount the injector pump to get to them. i'm not having any fun!!!!  please hellllllllllp

[chrissev]

Hi  guys, well i found that i have a bad water pump. leaking w/ water marks very sloppy shaft and it feels very rough when you turn it by hand.so i started tearing it apart ( by the book ) but it seems that the book leaves a lot out. they make it sound sooo simple. i have removed the power steering, alternator,and ac compressor. top part of the timing belt cover and  its still not ready to come out. are the 2 upper bolts the hidden ones that go through the ac compressor mounting bracket ??and should i have to dismount the injector pump to get to them. i'm not having any fun!!!!  please hellllllllllp

a lot of people have this problem.  For the hidden bolt nearest the timing belt try finding a long thin extension and using that to get it out.  For the one nearest the oil filter (right hand one) try using a racheting box end wrench.  Neither of those bolts is any fun to take out and if you ever replace the injection pump on your car consider replacing the water pump at the same time just as a routine thing because it is much easier to reach those two hidden bolts with the pump out.

[veeman]

You're right... Doing that water pump and getting at those bolts is definitely not the easiest thing to do.  I took the long way / hard way doing it my first time (removed the IM shaft pulley).  Not the easiest or fastest way.

The second time I had to get to those bolts, I couldn't get at the right hand bolts with my ratcheting box wrenches, so I made my own angled wrench.  It seemed to work well although you can only turn the bolt about 1/3 of a turn each time.

More info here:

http://www.vwdiesel.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1348

Another tip... If you have to split the water pump to reuse the block side housing, be sure to get some heat on the little 6 mm bolts that hold the wp together.  From what I understand, coolant wicks its way in there and then acts like loctite.  The heat from a propane torch can help them come out... even if you snap the heads off of them like a few of them on my engine.

Best of luck

[albsure]

Thank you veeman for your input. i really appreciate all the support that you guys give here on this forum.

i moved on a suggestion that chrissev gave me last night. get the right tools to do the job. prior th his reply to my thread. i farted around for hours and got nothing accomplished. nothing but frustration. so after a good nights sleep. i got up this morning with a better attitude about it, tracked my local MAC TOOL man and purchased a 1/4" drive wobbly head extension, 1/4" drive 13 mm six point socket and used them w/ a 1/4" drive universal and had the AC bracket off  in 10 minutes, thank you CHRISSEV. however i did lock off the drive sprocket for injection pump and loosen the mounting bolts to get a little play. it worked great. i didn't have  much time today so tomorrow i only have to hang the AC, adjust the injection pump and then happy motoring. i'll give a report then.