thepower steering pump doesn't need to come off the bracket, but the braket needs to come off the engine. remove the two LONG bolts that hold it on and just set it off to the side, if you can, without tilting it on it's side (or you'll have to get something to catch the fluid... I use type F automatic transmission fluid in mine... the manual says so). You'll also need to remove that bracket that's holding the idler pulley, AC, and smog pump, but I'm not sure on that one.

 

Yep. I did just that, Thanks Slymer. I'm working on putting the new water pump on. I've literally been working at this for almost 10 hours less meals and breaks. I'm scraping off the old gasket right now, which is a pain in the a**. I think I'll be able to get the new water pump on because what I did was stood on the front of my car (obviously not damaging it) put my weight into it and bleed out enough radiator fluid to not interfere with the new water pump installation.

 

nice. hope it all goes back together smoothly for ya. I put the new catalytic converters on my car yesterday... my neck is still sore. the old ones did NOT want to come off. But now the car runs much better at higher RPMs. Next... H-pipe and driver side muffler/tail pipe. *grin*

 

Considering I didn't drain out all the radiator fluid in the engine, This is what I did. I wanted to put the new water pump on but I also wanted to give the gaskets a good seal and I couldn't do this with radiator fluid constantly dripping out of the water pump cavities onto where the seal would be. I pushed the front of the car down a few times so enough radiator fluid would bleed out of the cavities into the pain to kind of recede back into the engine a bit and not leak out and disturb the new installation. I think it will work for me. Obviously I know I didn't do this situation completely right by not bleeding all the fluid out of the engine. And btw, sounds like fun slymer

 

There is a new problem that I've come to find this morning. Upon approaching my car there was something other then radiator fluid that was prevalently leaking. I think that moving the power steering unit has disturbed or ruptured the seal/tube that leads to it which has caused it to leak out at least 2 cups worth of fluid. (Might be a little off.. its hard to tell.) I'll try and get some pictures up later. If this is the case, it it really hard to replace/maintain this unit? Out of all honestly, it doesn't look to hard. Also if someone could get a snap shot of the engine block radiator drains I am DESPERATE!

 

not sure about the drains, but as for the power steering pump, the hardest part is getting the pulley off (need a special puller for this... they generally have them available in the loaner tools at autozone). with the puller, it's time consuming, but generally easy to get off. Then you get access to the three bolts holding the pump onto the bracket. remove and replace... put the pulley back, hook the lines back up and fill with fluid. no bleeding needed. you may however need to add more fluid initially after the first crank once all the air is out of the system. it could have just leaked out through the cap if it wasn't upright or out the high pressure line since there's just an O-ring that keeps it in and if it got pinched right, it may have allowed fluid to leak. find out as best as you can where the leak is coming from and we'll let you know if you really need to replace it or not.

 

instead of draining the way you want done which might be impossible because of age and the plugs are stuck, jack the rear of the car up to drain the coolant out the front.
or jack front up to make fluid go to rear of engine.

when messing with the water pump, make sure to pull off the back plate from new one and use the silicone on it too since that is what many forget to do.

 

Silicone??? What do you mean!?!??! I didn't read anything about that! I got the new one in today. What I did was seal the gasket, seal the plate, seal the second gasket, then seal it to the engine then bolt it on. I missed something!!?

 

Silicone = RTV = Gasket Goo

Sounds like you got what 87_Crown_Vic was mentioning, don;t worry....


It looks as though your water pump was replaced at some point, probably had the coolant flushed at the same time.. Looks nice and clean so I wouldn;t worry about it.. (I had to replace the thermostat in my 91 Vic this weekend, those heater hoses are kind of a pain to get to so I forwent the flush as well.. I'll save it for another day, like when a 351 falls in it........

I'd check ebay and such out for the overflow tank, even the junk yards if you got one around.. I think Autozone or Advance sells universal overflow tanks if nothing else...

 

that is a 1990 Lincoln Town Car overflow tank specific only to that year since it was mounted on the radiator shroud. might have to opt for a different overflow reservoir/tank if you cant find one like you got. another option is to use vinegar in the tank with water mix to clean the crust out of the tank... slosh it around and let it sit ovr nite and then slosh it and drain it... that mght do the trick to help clean it.