Is the apparent failure of the shaft seal on my '97 Silverado after about
56,000 miles typical? I just choked after hearing the local dealer say the replacement would cost $412.91, including a life-time warranted new water pump for $192.00!!! I'd been thinking I didn't need to bother with replacing my 50,000 mile coolant, since I was just pouring it into the overflow tank.On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 20:34:02 GMT, George Del Monte put forth the notion that...
Not unheard of.
Go to Kragen or Autozone and do it yourself. $412.91 is ridiculous.
I just replaced a water pump on our 97 Tahoe 5.7 Vortec with 80,000. I also replaced the serpentine belt since I had it all tore apart. total cost about $100. Have a Great One ! Bob
Yes, it's typical. My 1998 GMC failed at about 61000 miles. I did it myself for about $50. The hard part was removing the fan of all things. I made a tool in my garage to remove it.
OH YA ! I forgot to mention my fan did not want to come off either. I did rent a tool to take it off from O'Riely Auto Parts for $114 they return the full amont when you return the tool. that did not budge it! I had 2 different people come over a try. NO GO ! So I just got a lttle pi$#@% off and took the water pump off with the fan attached. I took it O'REILY'S because they said it shouldn't that hard. well they found out it was that hard, they couldn't budge it either. then we went to another place that took a torch and 3 foot tool for it. They got it ! said that was the hardest one they had ever seen. but they get a lot of them like that. other than that the rest was a peice of cake ! Have a Great One ! Bob :)
Coolant leaks are the biggest problem I have had with my 97 5.7L Chevy says you don't need to change the coolant for 100K miles. Makes no difference. Between the intake gaskets and water pumps you can't possibly go that long without having to replace it do to a repair and/or leaks.
This was surprisingly one of the easier things to replace on my 91. I bought my lifetime warranted one from AutoZone for $38.
OK, guys, here's what I did: I bought a new lifetime warranted pump from Discount Auto Parts for $51 and the two small hoses at the top of the water pump (I cut the old ones off). Then, I got four 3/8"x16 3" long bolts, cut off the hex heads, cut a screwdriver slot at the cut end, and then cut off all but 1/2" of the threads. Then I screwed the new studs into the four mounting holes in the block. This made it drop-dead easy to slide the two gaskets in place and, best of all, to position the water pump exactly where it should be while I removed each stud, one-by-one and replaced each with the original bolts.
Neat trick. I'll have to remember that.
Loyd
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