Date:         Fri, 19 Feb 2016 10:36:15 -0800
Reply-To:     Neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Friday water pump fun!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

Hi all.

Am on a holiday road trip in the US. I'm about 2300 miles in so far.
Before leaving Vancouver BC, I did some maintenance on my westy. Timing
belt, tensioner, idler arm roller, coolant swap etc. After that work I
noticed a very intermittiment light sound "choonk choonk choonk" sound.
Initially figured it was the idler roller, then alternator, then finally
narrowed it down to water pump. Since the noise hadn't gotten consistently
worse, I chose to drive into Death Valley. For anyone thinking of doing
this trip, do it! I got lucky in that the wild flowers were in full bloom.
But then it was Presidents' Day long weekend so it was crowded.

After returning to Bishop, CA, the pump noise was getting worse. German
Sierra was quite helpful but busy as were other shops possibly far less
familiar with a vanagon let alone one with a Jetta engine so I chose to do
the job on the BLM land I was staying at. The weather was starting to
change thiugh and as my NOAA radio predicted, it became windy. I was
more concerned about heat (I'd previously remove the crank etc to check the
pump fasteners. None were siezed. The daytime heat was harsh) but oh the
wind!

At times I had to shut my eyes and wait while under my bus. I was quick to
stuff a rag into the pump housing to keep the sand out!

Since I knew the pump housing had relatively low miles, and I didn't want
to be waiting days for "always replace" bolts I chose to just swap out the
pump. Vw vortex forum said "no" I didn't have to remove the intermediate
shaft sprocket to get the pump out. NOT true! This discovery, during the
mild wind storm wrenching event, prompted a slew of expletives unmatched by
any sailor or turrets stricken victim. Thankfully I had the foresight to
buy some steel and fasteners to make a VW3036 tool to hold the spocket.

The upshot of al this is I got the job done and so far, no leaks, no noise.
The only real gotcha is that a captive fastener at the pump got lost, I
didn't have the tools to retrieve it, so I installed a cable strap at that
point. The torque value is low for each pump fastener so I should be ok.
Permatex was also deployed at pump gasket.

Here's some trip pics. One shows pump housing wear and tool I made. This
tool worked, but in hindsight, I'd put a couple sockets over the bolt
threads. I doubt I harmed the sprocket. I surely hope I torqued it down
enough!


https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/Feb2016Trip#6253067318906070738




--
Neil n

Blog: Vanagons, Westfalia, general <http://tubaneil.blogspot.ca>

1988 Westy Images <https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/New1988Westy>

1981 Westfalia "Jaco" Images, technical <http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/>

Vanagon-Bus VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>