Figuring I have the S/C off the car for measurments, and the water pump is easily accessable with the plate off, I decided to rip it out and put in a new one..It wasnt leaking at all, but with 137K miles on the motor and the cold months slowly approaching, it didnt seem like a bad idea

Well the water pump finally came in from nissan and I was able to do it yesterday and today...I woulda finished it yesterday but time ran out and i had to go to work..

the only real hang up I had, was the write up I was using said there were 4 10mm bolts holding the water pump..after looking for the 4th bolt for 20 min, I looked at the new pump and saw there were only 3..So after getting it out, the new one went in fairly easily..the space is soo dam* tight in there everything has to be done by feel..after the pump went in and the THREE bolts were tightened, the tensioner went back in fairly easy, but also needed to put in 100% by feell...kinda dificult

All in all, I thought it was going to be harder than it was...

NEW water pump..Im really exicted

-matt

 

Glad you got it done without any hitches.

 

Im happy its all back together with a New Water pump....I got the covers back on and Im waiting to get the plate back so I can start it up...Im gonna change the Power Steering Belt while I have it all apart

-matt

 

Does anyone know what Nissan gets to do the job of replacing the water pump on a 1995 Maxima?

Thank you!

 

I think they get about $500-$600 for the Water Pump Job

-matt

 

Good job. My bud and I jsut did this on his 96. He got really worried when he heard that chattering noise for the first few minutes after start up.

 

thats normal the chattering noise for a while after install. no the stealer ship would want about 1000, mine when out i asked them. I got it done for 300 on the side, wish i would have done it my self.

 

Oh I know, its just that he wasnt expecting it and it scared the fucc outta him. I showed him the page in the FSM that says its just the air being purged from the timing set cover.

Anyways, $1000 for a water pump?? That's insaine.

 

Yes, the water pump job went smooth. But like the other guy said, it was noisy as hell when I first started it for about 3 minutes, but then it quited down. The factory manual said its normal.

 

Glad you got it in with no issues. I paid $550 out the door when I had mine replaced at the dealership. The first dealer I went to wanted $700. It did not look like something I wanted to tackle at the time. Other places charged less but I was not impressed with them. One place kept telling me that my car had a timing belt, and I just said forget this, to the dealer I go. I had read many horror stories from shops doing this and not being familiar with our cars, and screwing things up. No problems since.

 

Theres no real way you can screw this job up unless you totally forget to tighten somethin or forget to put the tensioner back in...

let me not speak so soon, I havent started my car yet

-matt

 

for gigles I had asked my local nissan dealership in savannah how much they would charge to install a new tensioner. . . $1100 I kid you not.

 

Thats because the NEW tensioner design from Nissan requires the entire Crank Case to be removed...you cannot cheat and use the little door anymore on the side of the engine.

The old style required you to remove the door and just replace the tensioner..the New tensioner design is 2 1/4" long and comes with a NEW guide raill design and cannot be axcesed through the little door...

BTW: The design of the tensioner in my 96 is 2" long...

-matt

 

Water pump replacement is not an easy task, props for doing it.

 

[this new information worries me. I purchased a new tensioner and guide off an org member who couldnt get it to fit on his car. I believe he had a 96 as do I. So the write up thats in the stickes wont help for this new guide? And will this new longer guide fit on our cars?

goind to measure my tensioner and find out the size.

 

The longer tensioner will fit regardless. All he's saying is that you have to remove the timing chain cover to install it.

 

I get it now.

 

Old part number will be 31U00 or 31U01 and Will fit

The tentioner that wont fit and requires the entire cover to be removed is the 31U03 or the 31U26

BTW* There are only 3 bolts holding the water pump into the engine and when doing the water pump mishmosh's write up sais to be VERY carefull that none of the washers that are the bolts fall into the timing chain cover. Well the washers cant make it past the threads to actually fall off the bolt, so theres no real worry in loosing the washers

-matt

 

Thanks mike..

-matt

 

I paid $598 3 weeks ago, just because I didn't have the time to change it myself.

 

matty,
Once you finished putting the tensioner and pump in the instructions say to turn the crank pulley 20 degrees. How did you know what 20 degrees was or did you do it by some other method. If you could get back to me I would appreciate it. I am going to try to get my pump swaped over tonight. Lucky for me both motors are out of my car I just dont want the screw the timing up some how (don't even know if that's possible). thanks.

-Carson

 

I took paint and marked a mark on the pulley and motor before I went counter clockwise on the pulley to releive tention on the water pump. Once the pump was taken out and the new one was put in, the chain was still limp, so I turned the crank pulley clockwise till the paint lines lined up.
Any thing else, just post it back up

-matt

 

well I got it done last night. I cannot say it was super hard but it was tedious since I had never done it before. I took the pump (newer), and tensioner out of the blown motor. Then I took the tensioner and pump out of the new motor. Then I put the newer water pump in and put the tensioner back in the motor that I am going to use. I made sure the crank was tight, RTVed the covers and called it an evening. One helpful thing I thought I would throw in to mismash (I know thats not his exact name) write up is that you can use the belt tensioner bolts (the ones you have just taken out) to jack the water pump out...they are the right size. Anyway that the job took a while, but it was my first one and did not want to mess up.

 

One other thing I would add to his write up is that there are "ONLY 3" bolts actaully holding the water pump into the engine.. I spent a good half hour looking for that 4th bolt. Cant really see with it in the car.

And the bolts that come out of the tensioner and the water pump, you really dont have to worry about dropping the washers inside the case because they cant even make it past the threads. But thats just something good written in there anyway.

That write up helped me out soo much

-matt

 

One question: Is it necessary to drain the coolant out of both block drains and radiator, or is it ok to just drain from the plug below the water pump?

Dave

 

I dont think you need to drain anything..I had the thermostat housing off when I did the water pump...and make sure you drain the oil thats in the car when you do the water pump, some coolant will leak down into the oil

-matt