vr6 water pump

[vrtoad 0]

Merry Xmas folks n happy new year!!!

 

Not so merry for my vr6 tho : xmas eve water pump died.

 

anyone changed one themselves? ive read youve gotta loosen mounts n jack the engine up but it looks like itll have to come up quite a way so just wonderin if anyones done it themselves and has any tips.

 

cheers in advance

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah the main pump needs the engine jacking up to get at it.

 

Take the centre bolt out of the rear mount and remove the top nut from the front mount, leave the gearbox as is.

 

Remove all the air box etc and anything that's likely to get snagged or stretched when jacking up, inc the PAS pipe bracket that's bolted the gearbox. The exhaust downpipe and gear cables have enough clearance to not need removal thank f'ck!

 

Jack the engine up slowly and when the 3 water pump pulley bolts are exposed, slacken them off.

 

Take the tension out of the serpentine belt by screwing a long 8mm bolt through the threaded hole at the top of it (near injector 1).

 

Remove the pulley bolts and pulley

 

Undo the pump retaining bolts and pull pump out.

 

Clean up metalwork well.

 

Fit O ring to new pump and slot it in.

 

Refit everything you removed etc and then refill the coolant system with 2.5 tubs of G12+ and water.

 

run engine at idle with the expansion cap removed until the thermostat opens (80 deg)

 

As the water starts to rise, quickly screw the cap down and take for a 20 minute drive.

 

Check level and top up as required the following morning.

[craigowl 0]

All I would add to what pianowire says is:

 

- I did this last year and I am of an age where this kind of car mechanics is getting a bit too adventurous. What I am saying is, that if you are younger than me and can tackle simple nuts and bolts stuff, you can manage it yourself.

 

- I had misfortune to shear bolt of rear mount when tightening up to torque. VW say these bolts are "one use only". However, a useful tip from one of our forum users in Stuttgart IIRC has said that starting and running the engine a little, before refitting the engine bolts, has been found to settle the engine into the correct position with the bolt holes lined up. Sounds reasonable in theory.

 

Good luck, anyway.

[was8v 0]

I'd add - don't use a pattern pump, only use a genuine one. I had 2 pattern pumps fail within a short space of time. Not much fun doing a job 3 times for the sake of £20.

[craigowl 0]

Yes. Good point by was8v.

 

Some people have had trouble with water pumps (even those in more recent VAG golfs).

Agree, best not to get one from a really cheap pattern parts place.

[vrtoad 0]

Thankyou very much people!!!!

 

That was sundays job and it went surprisingly well.

 

My vr6 is happy again!

[VAG-hag 0]

any danger with doing this while the car is imobile? or shall i just run it instead of driving it?? Chris is getting the spanners out - eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!