I'm trying to replace my water pump and I'm at the part where you have to remove the timing chain tensioner. Now I've been trying to about the last 45 minutes to pull the thing out and it won't come out. Yes I have removed the 2 bolts. Besides the fact of limited room, I keep moving the thing all over as much as possible and it won't come out. I don't know what else to do. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

nevermind i got it out. I do have another question though. It appears the on the OEM water pump it has a timing mark, does this mark actually have anything to do with timing?

 

I do have another question now, I have replaced the pump and got everything back together. As far as starting the car, the RTV sealant says an hour before cure and 24 hours before full complete cure. Can I start the car after the 1 hour or do I need to wait the full 24 hours before firing it up?

 

You can start the car now, just don't drive it too far. Remember that there will be a little rattle (or a big one) for a bit after it is started.

 

Thanks, I took it out for a drive last night, it rattled for about 2 minutes and then stopped. Now, I just hope that I was able to put a good enough RTV seal on the cover plates. I guess I'll find out soon enough if I didn't. that would be a pain. So I'll hope for the best.

Thanks again.

 

No, do not worry about this.

 

As long as you made sure to put enough sealant, you will be fine because the torque of the bolts will keep it sealed. I just did this about two weeks ago, and I have had no leaks as of yet. Remember too that not a whole lot of oil splashes against these, so leaks would be rare anyway.

 

Can you share any tips? I may need to change mine so I like to collect as many real life examples as possible.

 

I can't think of any real tips. The only thing I did differently was buy the coolant that is already prediluted so I didn't have to worry about mixing it myself. Just be patient, is the key. And basically everything is done from above that car (at least in my experience, I tried many time to go underneath but there was just no room to reach anything from down there). I'm going to say the hardest part for me was taking out the timing chain tensioner because it was very slick from the oil and I couldn't get a good grab on it.

Other than that I don't have much to offer. I'm not the greatest time wise on first time projects. The job took me like 7 hours. If I did again though I could probably cut that time in half, if not less.

 

Here are some tips:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=485824