I'm replacing a water pump on my 97 5.7L vortec. How do you remove the fan/clutch assembly from the old water pump?
Is there any truth to the rumors I hear about coolant leaking from the lower intake manifold? Is it a hit or miss problem or is it something I'll see for sure? I just bought this truck with 67K miles for $3K below blue book. It's a sweet truck. I bought it knowing the water pump was bad. Anyway, can someone hook me up with the procedure to remove the fan/clutch assembly?
By the way, I have a Chiltons manual and it's worthless.
The fan clutch is threaded onto the WP shaft. It is standard thread, so you need to turn it to the left to loosen it. There are two ways of doing it.
With the belt still on, use a big adjustable wrench on the fan clutch nut and a BFH to knock it loose and remove it.
If it's on there really tight you will not be able to do this as the water pump pully will just slip on the belt with the whacks from the BFH. In this case you'll need a spanner wrench to hold the WP pulley in place while you loosen the fan clutch nut.
Doc
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A strap wrench on the pulley and a big adjustable wrench on the hex part. Mine was relatively easy to break loose. Yes, the intake manifold gaskets leak - not many that don't. Make sure to use Fel-Pro and the updated GM gasket, or you will replace them again(dont ask!). tad
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