Tutorial Index

WATER PUMP REPLACEMENT( click medium pics to see large):

Advisory: I'm no expert. Just sharing my experiences. Be sure towear SAFETY GLASSES as boiling hot coolant burns your eyes out and burns any exposed flesh.

Is the weeping hole on water pump leaking coolant?. This signals thatyou need a new water pump. Dont delay.

(Note: the 4*10mm bolts may not come withnew pump. The 4*10mm studs in old pump are hard to reuse. length: 12mm not including head. Use lockite)

1.Drain coolant. See Coolant change article at end of this article.2. Take off intake piping.3. Remove fan and coupling together(4*10mm) and fan shroud . I took off only the top half of shroud. Squeeze plastic clips with pliers to free it.(pic)

Fan and coupling come off together:



Top of fan shroud(click small pics to enlarge)



4. Free the water pump/crank/power steering belt by pushing pwr steering pump down and away from passenger side . Push up and towards passenger side to tighten belt.There is one 14 mm nut and one 14 mm bolt to loosen. You may need back off the long tensioning bolt.

This is the 14mm nut you loosen. It is the nut that locks the tensioner.



Second thing to loosen. It is a 14mm bolt on opposite side of pump fromtensioner:(this is a HICAS power steering pump so your pump may have one less bolt to loosen)



Tensioning bolt(dont remove. Pic is for interest):



5. Take off the waterpump pulley6. Take off bolts that bolt the water pump to the block.(5*12mm)7. Use a rubber mallet or 2 by4 to knock off the water pump.8. Clean off old liquid gasket. Be thorough.9. Apply continuous bead(2-3 mm diameter) of high temp liquid gasket to the water pumphousing. Sealant around the bolt holes.10. Main bolts are 12-14 lbs torque.(12mm) 5lbs for the smaller bolts.(10mm)11. When filling, make sure motor is on. Air relief valve open.(leave rad cap off)12. When it looks full, rev motor to about 3k rpm13. When motor warms up, thermostat opens and let air pockets out.

14. Motor will warm up to the "H" mark or higher but will drop pretty quickly.15. When no more bubbles come out, top off radiator and over flow bottle.16. Take car for test drive. Done.







Additional notes:

1. I recommend washing fan with soap and water with brush.2.Reusing water pump studs: to remove, screw on one nut and then a second nut to hold it in place. turn the inner nut and the stud will come off. Dont screw the first nut too far down or it will wedge. to screw stud into new pump, screw one nut in and then second nut. Use the outer nut to screw stud in.3.You may choose to change alternator belt at this time. There is a 14mmbolt at bottom and the two 14mm bolts associated with tensioner at top.The bottom bolt and the bolt that locks tensioner to engine face front of car. The bolt used to adjust tension is accessed from passenger side of car. The bottom bolt and bolt that locks tensioner must be loosened. The tensioning bolt must be backed off. You still may need a wooden pry bar to move alternator or a rubber mallet. Move alternator towards drivers side to loosen belt.

Cautions:

1. Cats love Coolant. Unfortunatley, it is deadly for them. Dilute any spilled coolant with water. Dont leave out open containers of coolant.2. Always wear SAFETY GLASSES!!3. Cold water in a hot non-running engine will crack engine block, so ensure engine is running or engine is cooled.

================================================COOLANT CHANGE AND FLUSH( click medium pics for large):=================================================Advisory: I'm no expert. Just sharing my experiences. Be sure towear SAFETY GLASSES as boiling hot coolant burns your eyes out and burns any exposed flesh.

Procedure to Drain, flush, and refill coolant1. Move heater "Temp" control lever all the way to "Hot" position.

2. Open drain plug at the bottom of the radiator, and remove radiator cap.(there is a hole to access plastic drain plug, but difficult to reach. I removed one 10 mm screw holding undercover. plug on driver side of radiator)3. Remove drain plug on cylinder block. -coolant is removed-(see pic)4. Close drain plug and tighten drain plug securely. -apply sealant to the thread of drain plug-

(A little ambiguous here. You can supply continuous water with garden hose. They seem to be saying leave radiator plug open. I guess the engine wont over heat as water level drops as it escapes out radiator drain)5. Open air relief plug(10 mm).(see pic)6. Fill radiator with water and close air relief plug and radiator cap.(Note: pouring cold water into hot engine will crack engine, if engine not running)7. Run engine and warm it up sufficiently.8.. Stop engine and wait until it cools down.9. Repeat step 2 through step 8 until clear water begins to drain from radiator.10. Drain water. Replace plastic radiator drain plug. Goes in straight or it will be damaged.11. Open radiator cap and air relief plug.12. Fill radiator with coolant/antifreeze up to specified level.(maybe keep track of how much coolant has gone in. Capacity is 7.25quarts(with reservoir) or 6.75 liters(?)). If you use water at all use distilled water.13. Close air relief plug.14. Remove reservior tank, drain coolant, then clean reservior tank.15. Install reservior tank and fill it with coolant up to "Max" level and then install radiator cap.16. Run engine and warm it up sufficiently.17. Race engine 2 or 3 times under no-load.18. Stop engine and cool it down, then add coolant as necessary.19. find a steep hill and park your car with engine on the high side. run car with rad cap off and relief valve open. shake the car. [email protected] A Tip Quick Tip. After flushing your cooling system, make sure you fill up your cooling system completely. The KA24 engines seem to like to trap air in the system and needs to be bled completely. My friend and I both own 240sx's and after she had a mechanic flush her system, she noticed her car would overheat at idle. Upon inpecting the cooling system, I noticed there were no leaks, and no coolant. An easy way to bleed the system is to run the engine, and keep adding water/coolant into the radiator while shaking various parts of the car. I liked to just push down on the front bumper. Shaking the front end side to side also helped. It took about 30 minutes of this to get all of the air out. At least as much as my body could take! Air rises to highest point.

[email protected]

P.S. This applies to SOHC and DOHC models.Where is the coolant drain plug on the block?It is on the left side of the engine (looking from the driver seat). It is very close to the O2 sensor below the exshaust manifold cover. You can not see from the top Rise the car slightly, and look up from behind the left front wheel and you should see it. It is a 14mm short bolt. It is hard to undo from underneath the car. However use about 6" extension and unscrew from the top. Make sure to wear safety glasses. This should be on all the S13. Allen AlqadiEmail: [email protected]

Air relief plug location:



Coolant engine block drain plug location:



Coolant engine block drain plug location(again):

Cautions:

1. Cats love Coolant. Unfortunatley, it is deadly for them. Dilute any spilled coolant with water. Dont leave out open containers of coolant.2. Always wear SAFETY GLASSES!!3. Cold water in a hot non-running engine will crack engine block, so ensure engine is running or engine is cooled.

Links:

1995 water pump replacement

zerothread/232942

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Realized recently that my power steering pump is HICAS so the bolts you need to loosen to get it to swivel might be different. Hopefully, someone will have a picture of regular power steering pump with bolts circled that need loosening.

good instructional

Nice write up. Thanks for sharing.