pt2614

I am replacing the water pump on a newly purchased '98 pathy. I am fully aware of the problems and I am going to replace all drive belts and spark plugs also. I am stuck trying to get the fan off of the water pump. All of the belts and tensioners are off but I can't get the fan off. I already damaged the outer wall on the harmonic balancer. A small piece broke off when I tried to pry off the fan. Any suggestions? No one else seems to have had the same trouble with this. Also there appears to be studs on the old pump pulley but my new pump did not come with the studs on. Is this normal?

californiak

The aftermarket replacement water pump usually comes with the studs in little plastic baggie, I do not know how stealerships sell it, you can reuse the old studs. As far as the harmonic balancer - i did the same years ago on my 87 Path and even though its not perfect it lasted another 120K miles ( I did not have money, $250?, to replace it). If you are able to purchase new one do so, it affects the balance of the crank and may lead to front seal failure or worse. I do not know why you cannot pull the fan off, it should come off pretty easy, if it is the harmonic balancer you talking about you need a good pulley that screvs into it, Do not use the pulley that pulls from behind.

pt2614

Thanks for the info. Update...I did the timing belt replacement and learned a few tricks. There were studs in the bag the water pump gasket was in. I used some thread lock to when I installed the studs to the pump. The fan clutch would not come off. I was able to remove the water pump with the fan and clutch attached then I took a mallet to the clutch and it popped off. It was rusted on to the shaft of the water pump. The manual said it is recommended to replace the fan clutch as to not prematurely wear out the wter pump, so I did anyway. I did not replace the harmonic balancer and it did come off easily with a puller. I used a little bit of WD40 on the spark plug socket when installing the spark plugs. The hardest thing for me was to get the socket out after I torqued the spark plugs. Having the WD40 allowed the socket to slip off after I was done. Also the manual I used said nothing about the air conditioning line in front of the timing belt cover. I took it off not releasing the pressure or recapturing the oil. Bad idea...If the Ozone layer is bigger recently you all can blame me. Overall the job took about 8 hours not including running for more belts and thermostat.