Water Pump

Fan is attached to Water Pump.

All the best, Peter.

700/900/90 Register Keeper, Volvo Owners Club (UK).

It's pretty easy to remove, can you tell what part of the pump it's leaking from?

The coolant seems to be dripping from under the water pump. A friend told me that water pumps have a small hole in the bottom of the housing that leaks when the pump fails in order to indicate a failing pump. I can buy a pump from the local Fairway parts dealer for $36.00. According to the book, the fan housing and fan has to be removed, to allow clearance I suppose. The difficult part looks like putting the pulley back together with the same tension on the belt, which is quite tight. How does one do this? Thanks in advance.

Tensioning the belt is easy, there's a bolt tensioner on one of the accessories, as I recall the alternator and power steering pump both have them. You loosen the locking nut, crank down the tensioner bolt until the belt feels about right, then you tighten the lock nut and back off the tensioner a few turns.

Water pumps can leak from the shaft seal, or commonly from the rubber seal on top between the pump and the head. Try rocking the shaft, if it feels loose the pump is definitely bad.

$36 sounds awfully cheap, is that an OEM pump? FCP Groton sells pumps made by the OEM, they're a bit more than $36 but FAR cheaper than actual Volvo stamped ones from the dealer. They last longer in my experience than the cheap generic ones.

regarding the belt tension... it's been my experience that most people make the belt TOO tight. I seem to recall that it should be possible to deflect the belt about 1/2 to 1 inch. Much looser than that and the belt slips. Much tighter, and you put a lot of unnecessary stress on the bearing and seal. It's a fine line, but I like to err on the side of being almost too loose. I've never had a belt break, and my pumps and alternators last as long or longer than anyone elses....

James, You were right about the bolt tensioner. I should have used a flashlight to look but finally did see the tension adjuster on the power steering pump pulley. It still took a lot of work to get the belt over the pulleys, even with the tensioner out most of the way. Putting it back would be the reverse. I should have loosened the four pulley bolts before removing the belt so had to use a filter wrench to hold the pulley while I broke the four bolts loose. I thought the water pump would slide right out when I had the nut and three bolts out of it but there is a large rubber piece ("the rubber seal on top between the pump and the head")on top of the right side of the pump that looks like it is connected to the timing belt cover. Do I have to take the top of the timing belt cover off to get the pump off? I tried rocking the shaft but it was solid. The leak must be coming from another spot. Can the pump just be muscled out or will that destroy the rubber seal? I looked all over the box the new pump came in and a "made in China" tag was on the box. I guess not an OEM pump but it looks like a well finished piece of machinery. Derek

Yes you have to remove the top section of the timing belt cover, it blocks part of the pump. There's a screw at the top from the back side, and then a few bolts through the front. Be careful not to crank them down too tight when you put them back in, it's easy to shear the bolts.

The belts are not terribly difficult, they should pop right off once you get things loosened up.

More like ¼ to ½ inch deflection. More than that is too loose.

All the best, Peter.

700/900/90 Register Keeper, Volvo Owners Club (UK).

Now I understand why folks have the water pump replaced when doing a timing belt change. The bottom part of the timing belt cover captures the lower flange of the water pump, so now I have to take off all the belts, get the pulley off the crankshaft to get the lower cover off. I assume I can leave the timing belt in situ without changing the position of the pulley, if possible. Here I thought I was going to have an easy time of it. Seems I have dug a deeper hole for myself. In fact the "new" water pump doesn't look quite like the original one but I will see better when I get the old pump off. The Chilton book I was consulting makes it look too easy---no mention of even removing the top timing belt cover. Arghh! Derek

Wait, lower cover? The lower cover should be able to stay in place, the upper cover does have to come off though, at least that's how it is in the B23 I did a couple weeks ago. Does the cover really block it on a B230?

Chilton manuals are worthless, they tend to cover multiple models through decades and don't cover anything very well. Get a Haynes or Bentley for your specific car, they're far more concise.

Here's what I found: As I looked closer at the bottom part of the timing belt cover I noticed it was not integral with the inner part but held in place by the bolt on my left, that covered the flange of the water pump and feeling around and using the flashlight I found a bolt holding the other side of the lower cover at the bottom. I got a 12mm wrench on it and loosened it then unscrewed it with my fingers. The bottom cover was now jiggling around loose (hopes raised again). HOWEVER: the lips of the cover are grooved and could not be pulled apart enough to slide it up and out as it is tight up against the pulley. At this point I realize the crankshaft pulley does have to come off (or be slid back 1/4" ?) to get the lower cover off, meaning that the other two belts on the alternator and AC pump had to be removed. I am leery of taking off the crankshaft pulley and misaligning its relation to the timing belt. Is the bolt or nut a left hand thread? Will have to muddle through---good thing I am retired. Derek

Well yeah, you do need to take all the belts off, but you shouldn't have to remove the timing belt. Seems like the only time I've removed the crank pully is to do the timing belt. If the car is an automatic it's tricky to lock the crank to remove the pully but what I've done is put a bit ratchet on it (22mm bolt IIRC) and wedge the ratchet handle against the water pump and bump the starter, that'll loosen it right up. The timing belt sprocket is separate and is keyed on the shaft so you won't mess that up.

The lower cover circles the crankshaft so if you do in fact have to fully remove it, you have to remove the pully. I wish someone who's done this recently could confirm it though because I don't recall removing the lower cover to do the pump.

The lower cover does not have to come off to change water pump. Steps are as follows. 1) disconnect negative battery lead. 2) REmove accessory drive belts as necessary for access to water pump pulley. 3) Drain cooling system.

4) Remove radiator and fan shroud. 5) Remove fan fromthe water pump then remove water pump pulley. 6) Disconnect radiator bottom hose and heater pipe from the pump. 7) Unbolt the water pump, slide it downwards and remove it. 8) Clean away all traces of sealant and old gasket from the mating faces. 9) remove old pump top sealing ring. Refit new pump, gasket, top sealing ring and heater pipe seal. 10) Replace in reverse order to dismantling procedure.

All done without removing ANY covers.

All the best, Peter.

700/900/90 Register Keeper, Volvo Owners Club (UK).

I'm almost positive you have to remove the upper cover, I know I did on the B23 I replaced the pump on a couple weeks ago. The cover was over one edge of the water pump.

Thanks to all of you that responded to my questions. The Volvo in question is a 1994 940 wagon, non-turbo. Today I pulled off the water pump, scraping my arm as I did so. The way I did it was to bend the lower cover over far enough to let the pump slide past it. This could not have been done without removing the two bolts securing the cover. I had enough wiggle room to push it over out of the way. According to my owners manual my engine is a B 230 F/FD and does not have the fan connected to the water pump, nor did I have to move the electric fan and housing. I also saw no reason to disconnect the battery or drain the whole cooling system. I did lose some power steering fluid when I pulled the hose off the pump to get at the belt adjustment screw. Now comes the meticulous work of fitting the new pump in place with all its neoprene grommets, o rings etc.. This will be the fun part of the job. Thanks again. I am going to look for a comprehensive shop manual for this car. Derek

In article , Derek Lawler wrote: [ ... ]

Lubricate the grommets, o-rings, and anything else that needs to slide into place with silicone grease to ease assembly. Don't use any petroleum based grease, it would degrade the seals.

Gary