diy water pump

It only costs a little more to do it yourself

my dream pickup 

    I am always trying to save money by doing things myself. Replacing the water pump on the old pickup, replacing the slave cylinder on the old pickup, replacing the fan belt on the old pickup. Do you see a pattern here? Seems like the old pickup is eating up more than its fair share of attention. I have seriously thought of getting rid of it , but I drove it across the united states to our home back here when mom and dad  returned back home to live after living in new Mexico for about 10 years.

     I took dad fishing in it the last time I went fishing with him and he loved the truck. When he could no longer drive I was able to buy it off Mom and Dad and have had it since. I usually take good care of things and I am able to work on most of my equipment to varying degrees of success. This helps to be able to work on your own. But sometimes it can be a pain also. It is kind of a double edged sword, especially if you get it tore apart and can’t get your hands in certain places or tell someone else how to to move from point a to point b because they have no experience.

     I don’t always do all my own work but will show James or someone else how I need to go about removing a part when it won’t budge. This was the case with the slave cylinder where we had to actually cut a bolt head off the transmission to take the starter off, to separate the transmission to replace the slave cylinder. Marcie’s son Matt did that as that was beyond what James could do and I couldn’t get under the truck to do it myself. The truck was down for over 6 mos. With that one, while it was sitting there the water pump rusted apparently, because as soon as I was able to get it running again I began hearing noises coming from the water pump.

they have more time and patience than me 

      I kind of have a theory about fixing some things, and that is if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. Usually works as I have a lot to fix, so postponing one thing allows something else to become a priority. Well that’s ok till it goes and of course that happened a couple of days ago heading up I-77. Wasn’t really pushing the truck and was headed to the doctor for a blood test when it cut loose. Fluid loss is a good sign you may not make it home. So I put it on the hook through triple A and soon it was sitting in the front yard.  The truck surely thinking it deserved a final rest. Not quite.

      James and I got after it and we were able to remove the old pump and grab parts and put it back together before the sun went down. I had a persistent leak from the thermostat housing and I had a time with it when tightening and it leaked.  The leak was more so when the engine was hot. So I gave it up for the night and the next day found me driving Miss Daisy around so I wasn’t able to get back to it till yesterday . this is normally a 3 hour job and already I have over 5 in it and it still isn’t fixed and also I have over 125 dollars wrapped up in it , some parts can be returned lowering my costs, but still is expensive. I lost my serpentine belt when the old pump locked up and that cost 32 dollars as it was new about 3 weeks ago when I noticed it had torn. And after all the work done the other day I still have to finish fixing the leak.

    Upon closer inspection of the thermostat housing I find a crack requiring removal from the truck and finding a used one at the junk yard. I took it off and headed to Pull a Part. Pull a Part is a new concept in junk yards and works pretty good. You still have to pull your own parts off but at least they have Fords with Fords and also late model vehicles still on the road with a variety of parts still on them. I found 3 thermostat housings in short time. One I started to pull off and found I had a rounded nut after removing the other bolts. Soon I had my part though and looked around to see if there was anything else I needed. I was amazed that for a Saturday afternoon and rainy snow, the amount of people there buying used parts.

      I would suggest to anyone with an older vehicle in need of a used part to consider going there for the part you need. It was only 6 dollars for the thermostat housing. Not bad.  Had to have the part,  truck wouldn’t work without it. So I had no choice. I brought it home and installed it and was able to take it for a test drive and all leaks were stopped. I was able to return some parts and ended spending close to hundred to replace the water pump before it was over.

    This isn’t bad but still I haven’t counted my time or James time plus the gas to chase the parts I needed, and of course the frustration factor associated with doing it yourself and losing skin here and there in a ritual of bloodletting I now know by the name of doing it myself. A price to pay for the satisfaction of cheating the local garage of profits that most hand over so easy , yet I have a hard time doing when I know how to do the job myself.

      The heater works and the temperature of the truck is good and the engine is now quieter than before. In fact it is getting so quiet you have to listen to hear it run. Guessing whether it is running is much better than hearing it banging and thumping knowing it is running any day. After it all it was a little more costly doing it myself but still I have the satisfaction of knowing it was done right. The skin will grow back. It always has.