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Stock JK TechBulletin board forum regarding issues with OE (original equipment) components of the Jeep JK Wrangler (Rubicon, Sahara, Unlimited and X) such as factory suspension parts, engine, transmission, body parts, interior fixtures and the on-board computer.
I'm gonna be deep in Baja again this summer. I can't help but think that the water pump is next. I'd rather deal with it in my garage than in the middle of nowhere.
Hunting the bolts now.
I keep telling myself the same thing. However, I have this phobia with water pumps which stems back to my 1st vehicle I ever owned which was a 1983 Ford Escort. That car ended up being the biggest POS I ever owned, I won't buy a Ford vehicle til this day some 30+ years later. The only good thing about that vehicle was that was also my 1st vehicle which I learned how to repair things myself on, mainly out of necessity since I couldn't afford to just bring it to a shop. I purchased a Chilton repair manual for that vehicle since the internet, Google, YouTube, and forums didn't exist. Many days spent with that manual, repairing stuff on that Ford Escort. Anyways, one of the 1st things to go wrong with it around 35K miles was that I had to replace the water pump. All seemed to go well, following all the steps in the Chilton repair guide. However, it seemed I was replacing that water pump every 7-10K miles after needing the 1st water pump replaced and it seemed to be leaving me stranded due to a leaking water pump. Bearings of the water pump would fail from what I recall, where it would go from no leak, to a chirping sound, to gushing out coolant from the water pump in a weeks time. Following about 3 water pump replacements, the engine head cracked which was an expensive repair which I had to do myself since a $2K head replacement at that time by a shop was definitely out of my funds range. I replaced that head after getting one from a nearby junk yard. Worked on it for a good 3 weeks straight replacing it following every step in the Chilton manual to a T. Got it replaced, started it up and it ran like sh*t. It ran good enough to drive it to a dealership and traded it in with 68K miles on it for a Chevy S10 pickup. In contrast, that Chevy S10 pickup was one of the most reliable vehicles I ever owned, where I got well over 200K miles on it before I sold it to a friend who likely got close to another 100K out of it. Ever since, I've had this fear of replacing water pumps since I'm afraid of what I experienced on that POS Ford Escort would happen again. I know it's all in my head since water pumps are pretty simple to replace but the fear is still real. I'm afraid of falling back down that rabbit hole on my JK.
Yea my father is a "if it isn't broke don't touch it" kind of guy. By 200k I would say it needs to be replaced so I'll just get it now since it's on sale for $60 with gasket.
I have the same fear tight now of dropping the transmission pan. I'm convinced I won't get the right amount of fluid back in there.
About to replace the WP on my 2013 just as preventative maintenance while I've got the radiator out. 95k miles on mine and I have no doubt my WP is still good, but it's a bit cumbersome to get at this on the 3.6L. I vaguely recalled something about this task that was not fun, and yup, dug this post back up. I'm gonna cross my fingers that I have no bolt issues. That does not seem fun.
About to replace the WP on my 2013 just as preventative maintenance while I've got the radiator out. 95k miles on mine and I have no doubt my WP is still good, but it's a bit cumbersome to get at this on the 3.6L. I vaguely recalled something about this task that was not fun, and yup, dug this post back up. I'm gonna cross my fingers that I have no bolt issues. That does not seem fun.
It's really not that bad. Apparently the draining can be done without being a giant mess, not by me though. Keep a map of the WP bolts so the right lengths go back in the right places and snug them gently. The one that snapped on me didn't feel very difficult to turn.
Just a note to those that work with aluminum. I always ensure the bolt threads are squeaky clean when reinstalling and I lube the bolts with wheel bearing grease prior to install to prevent metal galling on alloy and chewing it out. Never stripped a bolt and of course there is a torque spec for the bolts as well.
Just a note to those that work with aluminum. I always ensure the bolt threads are squeaky clean when reinstalling and I lube the bolts with wheel bearing grease prior to install to prevent metal galling on alloy and chewing it out. Never stripped a bolt and of course there is a torque spec for the bolts as well.
Just got the WP out. I see what you guys are talking about. I had no issues with the bolts, but they are some pretty dainty things and aren't in there with much torque at all. I will say, with 95k miles on my jeep, and just doing this as preventative, I'm surprised how loose my WP pulley is, and both idler pullies and the tensioner pulley all seem pretty shot too. Just replacing everything while it's apart.
So, to start out I bought a 2012 Jeep Wrangler in December. The waterpump exploded. One day coolant was just being flung all over the engine. Which I was okay with, parts go bad and I understand this.
I am just having a difficult time adjusting to how soft the aluminum engine really is. I have a Haines manual for a rough idea of what I am doing and torque specs. While replacing the waterpump I have stripped 3 bolts so far. It is super annoying. I've been working on my own cars since 2007. I own a 2004 VW Jetta that I used to wrench on regularly. It currently has 210k miles and I have NEVER stripped the bolts. I did shear the exhaust studs while upgrading the down pipe, but that was because I didn't listen to a friend of mine to wait for him. He ended up using a torch on the one's that were left and that was so much easier.
I just wanted to see, is this normal?
Should I buy more helicoils?
I was puting the idler pulley back on and was "trying" to tighten to 18ft-lbs of torque.
Bruno - I just had the same problem with the idler bolt on the driver's side - Did you try the helio coils for the pulley bolt? If so, did it work. If you didn't go that route, did you find an effective solution? Thanks!
Bruno - I just had the same problem with the idler bolt on the driver's side - Did you try the helio coils for the pulley bolt? If so, did it work. If you didn't go that route, did you find an effective solution? Thanks!
I did use the helicoil. I wanted to continue to use the factory bolts. I make mention of this because I'm sure I could have just drilled a larger hole and tapped and use the larger bolts. It sucked at the time, but I'm glad that I was able to learn how to do the process.
04-09-2019, 04:21 AM
