# 93 Sentra ga16de water pump install Q?



## dragontoy22r (Jun 27, 2007)

I know this is a big thing for Sentra owners. I've searched and searched but have yet to come across an extensive write up on how exactly to replace the water pump in a Sentra with the ga16de motor.
I'm I right in thinking that I remove the upper radiator hose, alternator, and maneuver the A/C lines out of the way, I may be able to get to it without lowering the engine? And if I do have to lower the engine, is it just the passenger side motor mount and the lower brace that allows me to do so? If anyone knows a good write-up or has themselves done the waterpump, I would appreciate the assistance. I know I can do it, I would just prefer to know the shortcuts before I add 2 or 3 hours to what could otherwise be done in 2.
Thanks ahead of time.


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## lapwizrus (Mar 27, 2007)

I guess now is as good a time as any to do a write up. It all depends on how much room do you want to work with.

You do not have to remove any hoses, nor the alternator. You do not need to lower the engine (unless you need even more room, but that is just more work).
Majority of the work to change out the water pump is done thru the bottom of the car. I don't know if you can take out the pump from the top, doesn't look like there is enough room. EDIT: After looking at the pics it looks like the pump MAY come out from the top if you take off the engine mount. In that case do everything but skip step 6 and 13. However, to make it MUCH easier to get to all the water pump bolts, I recommend removing the crankshaft pulley.

I changed the water pump when I replaced my timing components. This is what I did. You don't have to do it in this exact order. This was done on a 1993 Nissan Sentra XE, GA16DE motor.

REMOVAL

1. Raise car.
2. Drain coolant by removing radiator cap, loosening the radiator plug on the bottom and the plug on the engine block...











3. Remove the plastic covers from the underside of the engine and around passenger wheel well. Looks like this when its done....









4. Take of all the drive belts. Loosen the idler pulley to remove the A/C belt. Loosen the P/S adjusting bolts and the pivot bolt on the pump itself to remove the P/S + water pump belt. Loosen the adjusting bolts and the pivot bolt on the alternator and rotate it to remove the alternator belt. Most people have problems removing the p/s + water pump belt ( i did too). You just have to remember to loosen that pivot bolt. Then you can rotate the p/s pump. Here is the pivot bolt...









5. Next remove the head cylinder mounting bracket, this gives you some access room to the water pump from the top. It is held on by 3 bolts. Disconnect the O2 sensor + the other connector and move the bracket out of the way. Coolant reservoid can also be removed (it pops off).









Now, if you want more room, you can also remove the engine mount and its bracket. Make sure you support the engine first. Here is how it looks without the mount...










6. Next, remove the crankshaft pulley. Now there are many methods to do this such as impact wrench, breaker bar, etc ... A trick I learned from these forums, is to first relieve fuel pressure. Then you'll need a big wrench and a 27mm socket. Put that on the pulley bolt and rest the wrench against something solid, like so....









Crank the car just for an INSTANT and the bolt WILL loosen.
To get the pulley out, some people are able to just pull it out, I had to use a pulley puller.

7. Next, remove the thermostat housing. It is bolted to the side of the water pump by three bolts. These are a pain to get out, so have an extension and a swivel ready. Bolts are 10mm. Here is the thermostat housing... There are two bolts on top and one on the bottom.








Can't really see them from the pic above, here is a better pic of the housing...









8. Next, remove the water pump pulley, 4 bolts, 10mm. And then remove the water pump.
Here are the bolt locations for the pump, again 10mm.










9. Clean off any old gasket with a scraper or razor blade, I use a little sand paper to smooth things out. Clean all the surfaces with brake cleaner.

INSTALLATION

Word of advice, use a torque wrench when tightening things back up. When tightening the water pump, use a cross pattern. 

10. Apply Ultra Grey liquid gasket to the surfaces. 

11. Install water pump.

12. Install thermostat housing.

Then everything else is self explanatory.

13.One last thing, when you have to tighten the crank pulley, there are different things you can do. If you have a manual transmission you can have someone put it in gear and hold the brake pedal while you tighten the pulley. If you have an auto, like me, you can take the off dust cover on the bottom of the transmission. Stick a wrench in the flywheel so it doesn't rotate and then tighten the pulley.

Attached to the dust cover are two metal gussets. Everything is held on by two bolts. Once you take out the bolts the gussets can be rotated a little to give you room to remove the dust cover. Here is a pic with the cover off. (Yes the cross member is removed in this pic)










14. Once everything is assembled, follow the procedure in the service manual for refilling and bleeding the coolant system.

Good luck. It is not difficult but will take some time.

I did this about a month ago, so I'm writing this up from memory. If other people have any advice or corrections, please post them.


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## dragontoy22r (Jun 27, 2007)

Thanks man, I really appreciate it. I'm tryin' to tackle this tonight, so.....
Wish me luck! Thanks again.


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## lapwizrus (Mar 27, 2007)

Also, I would get the factory service manual that can be downloaded here on the forums or over at PhatG20. Use that to follow along. They have all of the tightening torque numbers for the bolts.

Autozone.com also has some nice guides.


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## dragontoy22r (Jun 27, 2007)

Well, took me 3 hours and then 40 minutes in the shower, but I'm done! 
After taking off the pass. tire, putting the whole front on jacks, I loosened all 3 tensioners and removed the belts. Unbolted the bracket that holds the O2 sensor wiring and moved that outta the way. Removed the crank and waterpump pulleys. Removed the 3 bolts holding the thermostat housing onto the waterpump. Then removed the waterpump. 
***Make sure you keep track of which belt goes where and as you take the bolts out of the on vehicle waterpump, put them in the corresponding holes on the new pump, they ARE different sizes***
I used blue RTV on the machined surfaces of the pump and installed my gaskets, then applied more RTV to those and allowed it to sit for about 20 minutes. 

I was quoted $377 to have this done at a local "cheapest in town, guaranteed" shops. My cost on the "BRAND NEW" water pump was $21. That and the RTV and coolant I already had, along with 4 free hours (including your lunch time and back and forths to the fridge for more Corona). I'd say I got my money's worth!
Thanks again for the heads up Lapwizrus. This should get stickied.


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## Centurion (Sep 5, 2002)

I did one from the top. Just remove the top engine mount and then jack up the motor a couple of inches so the engine tilts away and makes roon for your hand. Tight but doable.


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## dragontoy22r (Jun 27, 2007)

After having done it, I believe it may be easier to do from the top. Just as Centurion described. I got to the top two bolts of the waterpump housing from the top, and the thermostat to waterpump bolts. With better access, I think I could have more easily done it from above, probably saving an hour r so.


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## lapwizrus (Mar 27, 2007)

Yeah, it would save a lot of time doing it from the top. I had no choice, as I also had to take the timing cover off when I chaged out the timing components.
Glad that you got it done.


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## dragontoy22r (Jun 27, 2007)

Oh, and it's so nice. I had that damned drip from the weap hole, that metal ticking that I thought was valve chatter. Now it's smooth, clean, quiet. For whatever reason, I had a problem with power when my A/C was on, and that seemed to decrease quite a bit.


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## guitargeek (Aug 3, 2009)

Where are the pics and diagrams? I'm about to have to change the crankshaft front seal, so I did a google image search and it brought me here, but when I look a the thread, no images. What gives?


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## 2dr_Sentra (Dec 10, 2005)

guitargeek said:


> Where are the pics and diagrams? I'm about to have to change the crankshaft front seal, so I did a google image search and it brought me here, but when I look a the thread, no images. What gives?


If youre looking to change the front seal, pull of the front pulley, remove the old seal with a seal pick, then press the new one in with a deep socket with light and even hammer blows.


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## silby101 (Dec 21, 2009)

Thanks so much for all the help here! Here is my experience.

I didn't need the pics to do it today, but the description really helped. I jacked the engine up as was suggested which really made things easy. I didn't have to remove any hoses, and only had to undo the 4 pulley bolts, 3 thermostat housing bolts, and then the 5 bolts that held on the pump. Really it was quite easy, but it took me about 4 hours from start to finish (it took a while to clean all the surfaces). 

This picture was the only one I needed to get me started on where I should be working.
http://www.nissanforums.com/ga16de-...4-nissan-sentra-xe-cant-find.html#post1299459

I found that my engine sounded really really rough before the water pump violently blew, and now it purrs. Just a bit of advice if your engine sounds rough and oil treatments/changes don't change the sound, it could be the water pump like in my case. I thought it was my cylinder heads or valves or something inside the engine since I have over 364,000 km (226,000 miles) on it, thank goodness it wasn't!


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## KCNissan (Feb 10, 2009)

*water pump change*

Very Good Info! I have to change my water pump too.

I haven't decided which way to go but am leaning on doing it from the top. Any other tricks or things I should look out for by doing it this way? 

I could not pull up the pictures either, only got the the thermostat one. Also, Could not down load the manuals on on top of Sect 13 either (Web Would not pull.) Could any one let me know if there are other pics around? Does any one know the torques too? Thanks for you help. 

You guys are the best!!


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