Thank you Ford.

The oil change place told my wife her water pump was leaking the other day. She called me and I almost cried. The last Ford water pump I changed took 5 hours and every accessory and bracket had to come off the front of the engine to get to it.

She picked up the part and said it didn't look too hard to change to her, but I just knew better.

Today was the day. I pulled it around to the shop and popped the hood. 18 minutes later, I closed the hood, new pump installed, coolant topped off. Done. I even had time to get the grass mowed, trimmed, and Roundup the weeds in the driveway. And it's still light outside!

Thank You Ford!

As a side note, a local shop wanted $350 for labor to change it. Now, I don't mind a reasonable profit, but that's just ridiculous. They are off the Christmas list.

What model and engine took 5hrs and what model took 18mins?

In reply to Toyman01:

Yes, but.... it should not have failed. Unless you have somewhere near 300k miles. IMHO.

What car was it on by the way?

I think that says more about your amazing mechanical abilities than Ford's good planning.

Yea, what mazdeuce said.

I'm sitting/laying here cursing Ford for mixing metric and sae, as well as certain part placements currently.

In reply to RevRico:

I am guessing that you are working on something designed 20 years ago. My newer Fords have been all metric.

In reply to singleslammer:

Honestly I think it's rust on the fasteners, or my sockets are stretching(cheap hf). Same sockets, same bolts going back in as came off, slightly different sizes somehow. edit: there were 2 bolts I found, on the bottom of the shock assembly, metric on one side, standards on the other, works out because I only have one of each size. I then later realized why the bolt was shaped the way it was was to catch itself and not make you hold both sides.

Although 12 years and 230k miles anything is possible.

yupididit wrote: What model and engine took 5hrs and what model took 18mins?

5 hours was on a 1987 Lincoln Town Car with a 5.0.

This was a 2003 Mustang GT with a 4.6.

Everything was metric. 2 sockets used, 10mm and 13mm. 4 bolts each.

Mileage on the car is in the 140K range. The interior seal on the pump failed. I'm betting it's missed a few coolant changes in it's life. I'll blame a lack of maintenance.

Might be an 80s thing. I once changed a 460 water pump in an old church van and it did seem like literally everything on the front of the engine was bracketed to the water pump somehow.

mazdeuce wrote: I think that says more about your amazing mechanical abilities than Ford's good planning.

I've turned a few wrenches in my life, but that doesn't trump decent engineering. It also really makes you appreciate it when you come across it.

I literally popped the hood and started smiling. I could see all 8 bolts that needed to come out without resorting to mirrors, or standing on my head. By the time I was done, my 30 year old son was muttering, "That's not fair."

In reply to Vigo:

That carried into the 90s. My 94 F350 had a water pump bearing that would growl on occasion. I dutifully bought a pump, but when I popped the hood, that bearing didn't sound near bad enough for me to actually change the pump. It would still growl on occasion, but truck is sold and the pump is on the shelf.

If anyone needs a pump for a 460 Ford, I'll sent it to you for the cost of shipping.

You didn't put a 460 in Sanford?

In reply to spitfirebill:

I seriously considered doing just that, but if I'm going to spend the time doing a engine swap, it's going to be a diesel.

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to spitfirebill: I seriously considered doing just that, but if I'm going to spend the time doing a engine swap, it's going to be a diesel.

Duhhhhh. I should have thought of that. It's been a long day.

Easiest water pump to change was on my 2000 SVT Contour.

You have to remember back when the 260,289,302, etc. were designed we didn't have all those stinkin accessories like PS, AC, AP, etc. You had a generator and not an alternator and the water pump itself. So when all those "extras" came along the factory had to put them somewhere and they weren't going to redesign everything just to make your life easier?

In reply to jimbbski:

I think the easiest anything that I ever changed was the water pump on my brother's SVT Contour. I think it took me longer to find it than it did to change it. I thought it was cool that the belt could be changed without tools.

In reply to jimbbski:

Very true. At least some (like Mopar) put all the crap that's in the way on a bracket so you can just un-bolt the bracket and move it all out of the way in one shot.

alfadriver wrote: In reply to Toyman01: Yes, but.... it should not have failed. Unless you have somewhere near 300k miles. IMHO.

WTH? I don't think I've ever owned a water pump that went over 100k miles.

Toyman01 wrote:

yupididit wrote: What model and engine took 5hrs and what model took 18mins?

5 hours was on a 1987 Lincoln Town Car with a 5.0. This was a 2003 Mustang GT with a 4.6. Everything was metric. 2 sockets used, 10mm and 13mm. 4 bolts each. Mileage on the car is in the 140K range. The interior seal on the pump failed. I'm betting it's missed a few coolant changes in it's life. I'll blame a lack of maintenance.

i can attest to the ease of changing water pumps on ford's mod motors. after the water pump ate itself on my 5.4 4x4 F250 it only took me ~30 minutes to change, and most of that was due it it being a pain to reach down into the engine bay being in a tall truck. its nice not having some big complicated gasket to try to keep in line.

If nothing else this thread has given me a great reason to not fix the weeping water pump on my free '88 Town Car.

1988RedT2 wrote:

alfadriver wrote: In reply to Toyman01: Yes, but.... it should not have failed. Unless you have somewhere near 300k miles. IMHO.

WTH? I don't think I've ever owned a water pump that went over 100k miles.

You need to find better pumps.

Really- modern cars have to last 120-150 with only oil changes- even plug changes are being pushed passed 100k.

RevRico wrote: Yea, what mazdeuce said. I'm sitting/laying here cursing Ford for mixing metric and sae, as well as certain part placements currently.

That is my '97 Ranger. Metric and SAE. I try several sockets on each hex head to be sure I have the right one. And some of the hex heads are at the boundries of allowable tolerances and it seems like nothing really fits those correctly. Of course I don't have a Whitworth set of tools so that may be what I am doing wrong.

I think doing the water pump in my Z32 was around a 5 hour job total.

On the difficulty scale I have to say that changing a water pump on my 1989 2.9L Ranger PU sucked. After getting all the brackets out of the way you then had elevenabillion 10 MM bolts to remove. I also owned Capris in the past with the German Ford V6 and never could understand why then needed so many bolts?