Water pump housing replacement?

[moscar45]

I'm not new to W bodies, but new to this forum. Just wanted to say hi and hopefully I'll be back in the swing of W body ownership. I've owned berettas, corsicas, and buick W body cars, and now I'm considering a nice grand am GT. The problem is, the owner says the waterpump was replaced 2 months ago but it is still leaking all the coolant out. He says that the water pump housing has an expansion crack in it and needs to be replaced. This is in a 97 grand am GT with the 3.1 v6. I'd like to know if anyone has ever heard of or had this problem. Also, is it a huge fix? I cannot find the part at auto zone, they say its a dealer item only. Maybe a salvage yard if they would sell it off a block. I wouldn't want to buy the car if this is an extensive fix or a telltale sign of something bigger. Thanks for the info.

[19Cutlass94]

The housing of thr water pump is the timing cover... if the timing cover is cracked youll need to replace the timing cover.

[moscar45]

Do you think the timing cover cracked accidentely, or should I be weary of this motor? is replacing a timing cover an extensive job?

[Robby1870]

to replace the timing cover you'd need to remove the water pump, power steering pump, crank pulley, A/C compressor (really just disconnect the bracket). At least I think you need to take the A/C compressor off. Anyway, take those things off, take the timing cover off and put the new one on with a new gasket. It will be pretty tight getting in there, but shouldn't be that bad.

 

I don't know how you accidentally crack a timing cover and I don't see how it would crack on its own because I've never really heard of that happening. What probably is going is the gasket didn't seat right for the water pump. I'd take a closer look before I started pulling stuff off.

[BXX]

GA's force you to remove the engine mount to remove the timing cover..

[mfewtrail]

If the timing cover is cracked, someone was being careless when working on the car in my opinion. I've never seen a cracked 3X00 cover.

[5speedz34]

You won't have to remove the water pump, the timing cover has the waterpump housing in it.

 

It's a feature of the 60* engines.

[moscar45]

I'm wondering if I'll have to jack up the engine to get the cover swapped.....or if it will be a pretty straight forward thing. The current owner informed me that the shop that changed the water pump last month jacked the motor up on that side to do it creating the crack....is this possible?

 

[19Cutlass94]

Youll have to jack up the passenegers side to get the crank pulley off.

 

You dont need to jack up the motor to replace a water pump... they are full of shit if they said this

[5speedz34]

 

 

You dont need to jack up the motor to replace a water pump... they are full of shit if they said this

 

He's talking about the engine cover.

[19Cutlass94]

I must have read this part wrong:

 

The current owner informed me that the shop that changed the water pump last month jacked the motor up on that side to do it creating the crack....is this possible?

[rockfangd]

the 3100 is a very strong motor but if someone jacks up the motor and it falls and hits the mount or anything around the area damage is likely. Check the HVAC housing for damage. Sometimes when the engine drops without the mount in place it will fall back and break the housing. That is the only thing i can see being possible. Also if you have to take everything apart be sure to change the serpentine belt if it needs it The only other thing i can think of to cause a coolant leak is a bad intake manifold gasket, which is becoming common on the 2ng gen and 3rd gen GMs. but start easy then work your way up.