DBear

I'm finishing up replacing my water pump, and it's been as much fun as everyone says.

When I went to tighten the chain up by turning the crank pulley back clockwise, I expected it to get much harder to turn, and that would be the point to stop. But it turned fairly easily, beyond what I thought was 20 degrees or so. Do I need to keep cranking until it gets tight, or do I have to be more precise somehow?

JvG

I kept turning for longer than I thought I needed to as well.

Keep in mind, at a certain point all the slack in the chain has been taken out. The engine could be turned indefinately. All you feel working against you is compression.

You are done. Now attach the other parts.

Keep in mind that the engine will sound awful for a few minutes.
You might want to Rev it some to build oil pressure. The noise will stop when the tensioner gets enough oil pressure.

DBear

Thanks JvG. She's all put together now, but I'm letting the RTV cure over night. We'll see what happens...

JvG

One question.
Did you remove the oil pan in order to wipe it down after having all that antifreeze pour through the oil pan?
That's one extra step I took to make sure no antifreeze was left in there.

Other members might not do this.

Congratulations with seeing the job through.

Please tell us how things turned out.

Also if you have any tips and pointers to help some member someday .

DBear

No, that wasn't in any of the write ups I saw, and it didn't occur to me. (Not that I would have done it anyway unless everybody said you have to.)

Weather permitting, I'll get it filled and fired up in a day or so. I'll post a couple of tips after that. It feels like tempting fate to do it before it's finally done...

QuakerJ

Wow, haven't been to this forum hardly since I inherited a '96 GXE with 202 (now 210) thousand miles, but the post I needed was right on the first page!

I too, am in the middle of a water pump replacement. I'm at the point where I put the pump back in, and I too was curious how far to go with re-tightening the chain. At first I was stumped how you can simply let the chain go and still maintain timing. It took me a while to realize the slack in the chain won't let the cams move until you go too far, and the water pump doesn't care which spot in the timing you reinstall it on. I'm used to the belts on Honda motors and the Nissan VG motors. This is my first time with a chain that has cams over the heads.

Thanks for the post and answers.

QuakerJ

I also meant to mention that I had the oil dumped and oil drain plug off when I pulled the pump. What drained out, although it sounded like a lot, was only 1-2 ounces.

Knowing that; in the future, if I had fresh oil in the pan, I wouldn't bother changing the oil. You accumulate that much water in the oil just by doing a few cold starts without a warm-up. By the time you drive 50 miles it'll burn the water off and you're left with a fraction of a fraction of a percent of sodium (which is already in most motor oils) and potassium. Might create a tiny bit of acid but oil is designed to handle it. I'd run my fresh oil 3-5k miles (no extended 7-15k stuff!) if I were in that situation.

Even if there was still antifreeze in the pan that gravity couldn't get down the drain hole, it's not more then an ounce or so, judging by what's in the pan.

No doubt some will say oil is cheaper then an engine. But if I had $20 or more in newish oil in the engine, I'll take that bet everytime.

I'm curious if the OEM service manual recommends the oil change...

JvG

What came out of my car was more like a quart.

Keep in mind that antifreeze is not kind to bearings.

It does not take long to remove and reinstall the lower oil pan.
It also gives you a chance to clean out whatever is in the pan.
In my case, nothing much.