How to Change a Water Pump on a 1994 Buick Park Avenue

The water pump on the 1994 Park Avenue is mounted on the engine in the same vicinity as the power steering pump, and is powered through the engine drive belt. The water pump sends the engine coolant to the engine. A malfunctioning pump can cause the engine to overheat and therefore needs to be replaced immediately. Do the job when the engine is completely cool to avoid the risk of being burned.

Instructions

Disconnect your car's negative battery cable.

Drain the engine coolant, placing a container under the radiator and removing the radiator drain plug. You might need to use pliers to remove the plug.

Loosen the bolts on the water pump pulley with a wrench, then loosen the drivebelt tensioner with your wrench or ratchet and remove the drive belt.

Remove the pulley bolts the rest of the way. They should be loose enough to remove by hand.

Remove the water pump pulley.

Unbolt and remove the water pump from the engine using your wrench.

Scrape off all traces of gasket material from the engine's mounting surface with a gasket scraper and clean the surface with acetone. Clean off any traces of sealant and corrosion from the bolts.

Apply a thin layer of RTV sealant to both sides of the new water pump gasket and connect the gasket to the pump. Place two bolts in their mounting holes on the pump and install the pump on the engine.

Thread all the bolts onto the pump finger tight, then tighten the short bolts with your wrench in quarter-turn increments to 99-132 inch pounds. Tighten the long bolts to 22-29 foot pounds in the same manner.

Slide the water pump pulley in place and thread the bolts onto it as tight as possible without the pulley turning.

Reconnect the drive belt using the ratchet on the tensioner. Look for a diagram printed on the radiator to show you the exact path the belt needs to follow.

Tighten the water pump pulley bolts to 108-132 foot pounds.

Refill the radiator with a fresh mix of water and coolant if the old coolant was dirty.

Reconnect the battery cable.