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Old 01-03-2011, 09:06 AM
DCARLTON DCARLTON is offline
Tech Enthusiast
1995 Maxima
2002 Altima
1997 Maxima GLE
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 268
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Water pump replacement is tedious and takes time....don't get in a hurry. I read somewhere it takes 4-6 hours, I believe I had 12 in it. A mechanic indicated I saved about $800 doing it myself which would lean more towards 8 hours (the part is only $50 at Autozone with lifetime warranty).

To replace the t-stat, you found out you could remove as little or as much as you wanted to to make the job easier. The same goes with the waterpump. Certain things are required, some of it is optional. Since I was replacing the lower hose at the same time, it came off and made things a little easier (gave me more room - also helped drain cooling system).

I removed part of the motor mount, power steering reservoir was moved, horn was moved, fuse box was moved(had to do that to remove PS reservoir), did not remove PS belt although I can see where that might give a little more room. It's all about working room as opposed to actually water pump replacement.

I broke it into 2 jobs, removal one night, replacement the next day/night. This helped with the tedious and frustration part. Whatever you do, make sure you do not lose anything in the timing chain cover as that would add a bunch of time to the job. I tied fishing line to all bolts when putting them back in so I could fish them out if I did drop them. I took whatever precaution I could to insure success and is probably why it took me 12 hours to do it.

I don't see it as really hard except for the amount of time it took. It's not real easy either because it is tedious and required patience. If you follow the writeup to a tee, it is 'easy' so to speak as someone took the time to document the steps exactly as required. Considering 2 weeks prior to that I had replaced the #1 fuel injector, both jobs rank right up there to being tedious and challenging.

Edit: Do I want to do the water pump again tomorrow? No way!
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1995 Maxima SE (313,000+ miles 10/2012)
1997 Maxima (193,000 miles - bought from daughter when she traded for a Hyundai Elantra Coupe)
2002 Altima (daughter - totaled 12/2011 with 210,000 miles)
2012 Altima (daughter - replaced 2002 with 8 miles, now with almost 30,000 miles)

Last edited by DCARLTON; 01-03-2011 at 09:08 AM.
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