replacing water pump

[GTJoe]

I'm going to attack the water pump tommorow.Having read through the service manual about the procedure, I noticed it states to remove the power steering cooler out of the way, and to remove the CRANK pulley. Does this have to be done? It looks like the water pump housing would clear the crank pully when viewing from the top, but it is hard to tell until I look at it better.The manual tells us to remove the p/s cooler bolts and move the cooler out of the way, but mines mounted in front of the aluminum brace.Seems pointless to do so.The car is a 2001 GTS and so is the manual.What have you guys removed to R&R just a water pump? Thanks,
Joe

[Monzsta]

Being as you will already have the belt off, removing the six bolts retaining the tin pulley to the balancer improves access significantly. You can do it without it, however. It's not a bad job.

[Viper Jim]

Here is a repost from back in 2005 that i did about this exact subject



Bobby Archer sells a revised water pump with a larger impeller (that will not crack and fail when overheated unlike the stock plastic one) and an “overdrive” pulley (both made from billet aluminum) installed along with a different length drive belt. I have installed a few of these units and have had good luck with the quality and performance of them. They make a noticeable difference in operating temperature and you no longer have to worry about the plastic impeller of the stock one failing. If you are ever on the track or if you get stuck in traffic often I would recommend picking one up.


The Viper water pump is not all that difficult for any DIY guy to replace. No special tools or tricks required. Just, drain the coolant, loosen (do not take off yet) the bolts on the pulley (1/2 inch ), take the belt off (15mm on the tensioner), finish removing the pulley, use a pair of pliers to remove the spring–clamps on the hoses, take the hoses off (3 of them), remove the 5 bolts retaining the pump to the block (9/16) remove the pump, clean the gasket surface, install your new gasket and pump in reverse order. When you are done, you might have to loosen the upper radiator hose at the thermostat housing to allow any trapped air to escape while refilling your coolant. Once the system is topped off with coolant you may want to squeeze the upper hose after retightening the hose clamp. See if you can “pump” any air out of the system. Top off your overflow bottle. You can do this by removing the hose at the radiator cap and inserting a small funnel into the hose and pouring coolant into it. Once you are confident you have removed most of the air, start the car with the radiator cap off and be prepared for it to “belch” (make a mess) a few times and also require more coolant (keep it full). Once the car reaches operating temp. and the thermostat opens (keep an eye on the temp. gage and do not allow it to overheat). cap the system shut the car off and allow to cool. Upon cooling, remove the cap and top off coolant level. Also replace coolant in overflow that may have been consumed when the car cooled. These cars were designed (Gen. 1 & 2) to be self purging and not have any air in the expansion tank (the one by the heater air box). If you have any air in the tank then you should check your overflow bottle and I can almost guarantee that it is empty. You would be surprised how much this little trick has helped with hot Vipers. Finally go out and have fun!!! Keep an eye on the temp and check the coolant levels on your first few times out just to be sure that you don’t have an air pocket or anything else unforeseen. Good luck and I hope this helped.

Jim