Have any of you guys replaced the water pump yourself? I think mine went bad because my car leaks water from behind the timing chain cover. i asked two different mechanics if they could do it, and they didn't seem to want to have anything to do with it. Since i've replaced water pumps and alternators in a couple of domestic cars before, i thought i could probably do it myself, so i went and bought a Haynes manual, but that thing keeps me just fliping through pages and says to loosen bolts that it doesn't explain or show where they are, so if anybody could tell me the procedure on how to do it I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=308680

A VERY good write up...good pics as well

-matt

 

thanks matt.

 

i just did mine a few weeks ago and it was a pain in the a$$! it took me the most of the morning cause i ran into a problem. but that write up is what i went by and its great. good luck...oh yeah, i got a pump from kragen with a life time waranty for around $75

 

I don't want a pump with a lifetime warranty, I want a pump that will last a long lifetime. Don't wanna do that job twice on my own car. I would put a genuine Nissan pump back in the car. I think the quality of an OEM pump is much better then an aftermarket unit.

 

OEM Equipment Pump is only about $80

-matt

 

I did mine, it wasn't too bad. Just follow that walkthrough and make sure you get a magnet to get the spring and plunger from the chain tenssioner, cause toy will drop it. It also helps to have very small strong hands, which I don't have so my hands bled a lot.

While you are down there you might want to also replace the thermostat, the chain tenssioner if yours is making any noise, just cause everything is already apart.

 

how did it take to do the replacememt...( how many hours)
how about for me (have done my y-pipe, b-pipe, but never anything too big)

 

my total time was 5 or 6 hours but 90% of that was trying to get the stupid tensioner in and out. it is actually pretty easy to do just takes a bit of messing around to get everything to line up.