Water Pump Replacement - Top Tip

Hi,

When replacing the water pump make sure you also have a water pump housing to engine block gasket, as the water pump can't be removed with the housing in situ as it fouls the bodywork. Whilst you can get to all of the water pump bolts with it on the engine it is also easier to remove the complete housing/pump assembly and then remove the pump on the bench. Luckily for me all of the 33 yr old bolts came out a treat.

Mine's an '83 1500, but I think it will be the same for all models.

As an aside and reinforcing my belief in never throwing anything away I found said gasket in the remainder of a head gasket set I'd kept since 1990 whilst repairing my Fiat 128 (1979-1995 deceased).

Cheers.

I would second that - the bolts at the rear of the pump are pretty fiddly to access.

Did you use the rear boot access panel?

Anthony Billington wrote: Hi,

As an aside and reinforcing my belief in never throwing anything away I found said gasket in the remainder of a head gasket set I'd kept since 1990 whilst repairing my Fiat 128 (1979-1995 deceased).

Cheers.

Must be an old-car-guy way of thinking. I would've done exactly the same. I have partial gasket sets for quite a few vehicles I'll probably never own again but... ya never know...

Yep, with the boot access panel removed you can eyeball the housing to engine bolts and get a socket on them easily.