So last year while i was removing my supercharger and fuel rail, I decided to replace the water pump as a preventative measure. Easy access at that point and only a few extra minutes of labor.

When I purchased the aftermarket water pump, I noticed the mating surface was not machined and left 'as cast'. They do this to save money by avoiding an extra manufacturing step. To prevent leaking at the mating surface, they give you a paper gasket and tell you to 'RTV' the gasket into place. Reluctantly, I trusted the product design and installed it.

Should have known better. Recently I developed a leak at 2 different locations: one of the hoses at the supercharger, and a mystery leak at the front of the engine.
Here is a snapshot from the front when I did my last oil change, and a boroscope pic just below the water pump:


So now I need to replace the water pump again. This time I went for an OEM type, machined mating surface. Pep Boys sells this one:

It comes with a metal gasket. Check the raised surface of the gasket all around. If it is flat in any location, don't use it. There were 2 flat spots in the aftermarket gasket, so I decided to use the OEM once I had laying around.

The workshop manual says you can do the job without having to remove the coolant manifold, but I don't see how. I tried pushing the new pump down in there from the top, and it seemed impossible without removing the manifold. You also have much more room to clean the matting surface on the block once the manifold is removed.

So here are the steps I took:
1. Put hood in service mode
2. Drain coolant:
3. Disconnect this hose but be careful it will still have coolant in it:

4. Disconnect all [4] coolant connections at the intercoolers
5. Disconnect the coolant temp sensor, knock sensor connector and the connector right next to it
6. Disconnect the wiring harness on top of the coolant manifold
7. You can push the intercooler hose under the coolant manifold to get it out of the way, or if you plan on replacing the thermostat, you can split the manifold in half then move the hose out of the way
8. Disconnect the other coolant hoses from the manifold
9. Remove all [4] torx screws from the manifold (note: the manual says to remove the supercharger belt to get access to one of the bolts, but this is not needed. Feel for the bolt with your fingers then guide a bit in there)
10. Rotate the manifold to expose the last connected hose:

11. If you can access the clip holding the fat, short hose connected to the cylinder block, then remove it and the hose. This will make it easier when re-installing. It has been removed in the photo above.
12. Disconnect the final hose from the manifold and carefully remove the manifold. Discard the r-ring seals.
13. If available, use a syringe to drain the remaining coolant from the cylinder block
14. Remove the main belt from the water pump pulley
15. Remove the [3] water pump pulley bolts, then the pulley
16. Remove the [5] water pump housing bolts, then the water pump
17. Clean the mating surfaces

18. Re-install and torque to spec per the repair manual
19. Re-fill coolant

Here is the leak evidence on the block and the pump gasket:





There it is, cheap mating surface design, bad gasket, poor installation instructions, or combo of all 3?

Not sure but I will be demanding my money back since the part is covered under warranty and less than 1 year old.

 

Good job well done

 

Thanks.

Advance Auto ended up giving me a full refund so aside from some coolant, o-rings, and a few hours on the weekend ... not too expensive.

 

What was the remedy to the leak? Can you suggest what water pump to get ? I'm thinking just doing OEM ,. Also how much time you would estimate for the job?

 

Nice write up.

 

Thanks!

Root cause of the leak was coolant forcing itself through a weak spot in the paper gasket/RTV. The instructions don't mention how much RTV to apply and I didn't want to over do it for fear of contaminating the coolant.

Corrective action was to use a pump with a machined mating surface like the one pictured above, along with an OEM metal gasket. No RTV or guesswork needed. Just check to make sure the gasket you use has no 'flat spots' around it. The raised groove in the gasket should deform
and crate a a tight seal as you torque the pump back in. Areas with 'flat spots' may cause a leak.

I actually checked last night as I had the bumper off and no signs of leaking anywhere.

Job took about 4 hours maybe? I like to take my time.

 

Nice write-up... On another note did you ever work out your issues using the 15mm spacers?

 

Ugh no. I'm currently working through a Park Brake fault as well as trying to get my 01 Cherokee to start. So the spacers are at the bottom of the list right now lol.

 

Thank you for sharing. Sometimes it's tempting to buy the less expensive part but I've learned "buy once, cry once".

Can you explain putting the hood in service position? I would assume that means removing the hood but would like to learn more.

 

Yeah the funny thing is they were both about the same price. Still much less than OEM. However I would go with the OEM gasket, only 15$ and worth it.

Service mode is when you unclamp the bottom of each strut and then you can move the hood into a full vertical position. Slide an 8mm allen wrench or bolt through the holes in the hood hinges to keep it propped up vertically.

This gives you a lot more room to work.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Great post! Always appreciate anyone willing to write up a DIY with pictures.
Just wanted to chime in here on one thing, you don’t need to remove the manifold to get the water pump out. I know, it sure looks like you do and when I did mine, it looked like I was gonna hafta, but, I finally figured out the magic sequence of how to angle it around. See my post here:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...120768/page12/

It’s down around post #225.