water pump replacement on a 01 dodge van

[Yankee Transplant]

who in the right mind designed the location and space allowance for these side ways engines After removing the tire and a piece of plastic , you can see half the pulley.. [S after about 30 min. and scratched knuckles ,,all kind of arm cramps !!!!!!!! I got 5 little bolts out of the pump .. Well now it dont have enough room to come out of the block and clear the body I know you should not have to move the engine a 1/4 inch to get the stupid pump out
I know I'll take the pulley off .. well that was fun , braking bolts loose with the pump hanging there , and no way to get two hands on it to hold it ,, finally got the pulley off ,,, same problem only pulley will not come out from shaft because of (NO) clearance HMMMMMMM ,, with (alot) of pulling and name calling,, wiggling it come out .[cl Hopping the new one will be a hair shorter NOPE !!!!!!!!!!!!!! same thing !!!!!!!!!!!!! Well its all back together now ...had to force the new one up in the same way .. with out knocking the gasket off .... If anyone ask will you put a water pump on a v-6 dodge van say NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!

 

[donsrods]

Some cars are designed as if you are never supposed to go back in there and replace any parts. On the Caddy I just did for myself to replace the air conditioning evaporator on the firewall the engine has to come out. But you just don't pull out the engine, you have to drop down the cradle that holds the entire front end on, motor, transmission, steering, suspension, etc all have to drop down.

While I had the motor out I replaced every conceivable part that might go bad in the future. I never want to go through that again.

Don

 

[Yankee Transplant]

Thats just crazy ,,, I guess they want you to bring it back to a shop to work on it , .. I have a rack so it wasn't as bad as it could have been .

 

[Dirtyrat]

I've had similar experiences with my Nissan, however it appears they think of things like this and there is JUST enough room to do just about every repair either from the bottom or top...

After working on many fairly "modern" american cars, I tend to stick with what is easily repaired rather than have to pay someone to do the work for me...

 

[billy]

I will have to replace the heater core in the dodge 3500 soon.
It looks like I will be able to take a lot of bolts and screws out of the dash and then pull the passenger side out a little bit.
Then replace the part.
At least I sincerely hope so.
Grrr
I don't like working on regular cars and trucks.

 

[smallfoot]

I'm thinking that when that vehicle came down the assembly line, by the time the body metal got placed on it, the entire chassis with running gear was already in place.

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Some cars are designed as if you are never supposed to go back in there and replace any parts.

Truer words have not been spoken. They make 'em to live the length of warranty... otherwise known as "planned obsolescence".

I also have a heater core job I've been putting off. Apparently, they put the core on the assembly line and built the vehicle around it.

.

 

[Camo King]

I am just finishing up an engine swap on a 2001 Ram. I took out a 3.9 v6 and swapped in a 5.9 v8. Surprisingly very simple! If y'all are interested maybe I'll post a build thread. Lots of wires! Its not really all that bad on the ram. There's room to get to stuff. Way more room than the Cadillac!! On the caddy the engine has to come out to change the oil pan gasket!
Old cars rule!

 

[maverickmk]

I did a water pump on a Mitsubishi last year and had to remove the motor mount on the passenger side and drop the motor down to remove it. I unfortunately had to do it twice as the part Pep Boys sold me had the vanes going in the opposite direction and wasn't cooling it at all.

 

[Yankee Transplant]

I put an early 80 some model 350 in place of the v-6 in my 89 chevy truck .. I told the man at the parts house, I needed the water pump that turned the opposite way , because I was going to run a serpentine belt.. He told me all pumps were the same . So I put the pump on my newly built 350 and I run it hot I didnt kill it but it took some toll on my rings.. So I go back and tell them I need a pump for the 5,0 93 model . and I ask him what the number is on the pump and then the number on the older pumps .. guess what they aint the same Dahhh !!!!!!!!!!!! I miss the old time parts houses , with the old timers running it ...

 

[Bamamav]

They build them to sell, not be worked on! Things are put together on the assembly line as units for faster speed in production, the heck with getting to it later! As an example, to get to the heater core on my 99 F150, you have to remove the dash, on the 84 F150 I had, you took out 5-6 bolts off of a plate under the dash and slide the core out.

I feel your pain on working on FWD stuff. I will not buy it anymore, and other than checking oil or water will not work on it. It just cuts my hands and arms up too much to work in the confined areas on them anymore. I haven't owned anything FWD in years, and don't plan on it. Then again, the newest thing I own is a 2000 model, so I'm not exactly into new stuff anyway!