changing water pump

[amantedifiat]

Hello all,
I need to change my water pump on my 1980 spider.
Any tips and what else I should change while doing this would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks!
Mark

[maytag]

My suggestion would be to grab one of AutoRicambi's kits hat includes the idler / tensioner bearing, the water-pump & belt, the timing belt, and all gaskets. might as well hit all these items while yer in there.

http://www.autoricambi.us/cgi/commerce. ... ey=BT5-200

but that's just me.

[124ADDHE]

Personally, i would replace what is needed, not a bunch of other stuff that may be fine. Its a straightforward job, have pump and gasket ready, clean bolts and lube, scrape away gasket from block with a razor(carfully). I always take wheelbearing grease and use it on the block, pump and gasket to prevent sticking when it is time to do it again - allthough i ran into a problem because the gasket came off so well that i just re-used it and kept my new gasket when i was changing out the leaky pump a couple years ago.....of course, this gasket then started to leak 500k from home on a camping trip (18 months ago)....thank god for plumbers goop (rated to only 60deg celsius!!) as i used only this goop as a gasket (loosly tightened pump onto block, let sit overnight and tightened in the morning), it has worked fine for 1.5 years now, still have that gasket in my car. long story short, so easy it can be done on the side of the road in a pinch with minimal tools.

Good luck!

[124JOE]

i was told to replace the belt every time it comes off

how ever examin it for cracks or missing teeth
if its bad replace it and the berring

[manoa matt]

Not sure why you need to remove the timing belt to switch out a water pump. I think its a "while you are at it" type of situation.

I just changed out a waterpump on the side of the road Friday night to help out a stranded friend. Start to finish was 45 min. I'm a little peved as this water pump was just installed in 2009. It was less than 3 years and 3000 miles. She informed me the previous pump was 10 years old so I changed it premptively.

What is wrong with your current water pump? Is it weeping near the front seal behind the pulley? Or is the bearing going bad causing a wobble?

[Ragno124]

Not sure why you need to remove the timing belt to switch out a water pump. I think its a "while you are at it" type of situation.

Not sure what you are saying here, but all Fiat water pumps (and most other car makes as well) are driven by the timing belt so you don't have any choice in the matter. That is why it's recommended that if you are changing the water pump, you might as well replace the timing belt and tensioner at the same time or you will find yourself doing this job again in a few years.

[maytag]

Not sure what you are saying here, but all Fiat water pumps (and most other car makes as well) are driven by the timing belt ....

Ragno, you sure about this?

[DocGraphics]

Heres a couple pics I found (thanks Jaime) & it does not look like the water pump is driven by the timing belt.



[/quote]

Even though it is not driven by the timing belt I will be changing out my water pump TOO while replacing my timing belt.
Basically, for me, it's a while I'm in there do it all thing & a better safe than sorry, don't want to tear this apart again in another 500 miles (save old one as a spare).

[maytag]

Don, you sucked all the fun out of that!

just kidding.

I can't think of a single vehicle I've ever seen that had the water-pump driven by the timing belt. As a matter of fact, it would seem to me that prudence would suggest NEVER driving anything but cams from the timing belt.

It's possible that Ragno was having a brain-fart (as we all do on occasion) and was thinking about a drive-belt, as opposed to a timing belt.

[manoa matt]

Water pumps are almost never driven off a timing belt, if at all. Water pumps and alternators with their ball bearing construction are too high a risk to be driven by the timing belt. If they fail, or the bearings start to go bad they would throw the timing belt off the pulleys. "V" belt or serpentine belt. Jason Miller and Guy Croft have devised toothed pullyes and a corresponding belt that replaces the "V" belt system. It looks like a timing belt, but is not.

I believe the thinking behind changing the timing belt along with the water pump is that a timing belt has a replacement interval of around 30,000 miles. On a typical daily driver that sees 15,000 miles per year, change the timing belt every 2 years. A water pump should last a lot longer that that.

You can change out a water pump with only removing the "V" belt and engine fan. The yellow/grey timing cover does not have to come off, however once you are that far, its only a couple more bolts to get access to and change the timing belt.

[DocGraphics]

Oh it does happen, we have an Intrepid w/ the 3.5 V6 & the waterpump is behind the timing cover & does run off the timing belt.
Found that out last spring when it went out, I'm all "thats an easy fix, I'll do that for you tonight dear" oh-no...remove radiator & everything off front of engine...I let her mechanic tackle this one.

[manoa matt]

"Oh it does happen, we have an Intrepid w/ the 3.5 V6 & the waterpump is behind the timing cover & does run off the timing belt."

Yep, just looked up the diagram. That sucks, just one more reason to drive your spider.

[amantedifiat]

Thanks everyone for your replies and help. I guess while I have everything apart I will change the timing belt.
There not that expensive.
One more quick question. Does the lower pulley have to come off to remove the metal shroud to get
to the water pump bolts?
Thanks again.
The best tool I have in my tool box is Fiat spider.com

[124JOE]

Thanks everyone for your replies and help. The best tool I have in my tool box is Fiat spider.com

i second that

you should use that in your signiture
up in "user control pannel"

[digitech]

There are many later model cars that drive the water pump from the timing belt - Hondas and the Miata for example - don't know why they do, but they do. But the Fiat Spider is drive belt driven as most older cars are.