A job from hell? 12+ hrs? Car has 150k+ miles. Chain driven pump under timing cover. Shops and dealers actually do this job? Are there any shortcuts? Besides trading car for new car?
I’m unfamiliar with the '08 Taurus, but is it possible to access the necessary places by removing the wheel and inner fender liner?
21 steps to remove the water pump, including completely removing the timing chain, and both cats it looks like. 18 steps to put it all back together, including verifying the timing chain tension and timing marks. 10.8 hours labor. eee gads!! The only good news to this story is that the replacement oem part itself is reasonably priced, a little over $100. And that seems to include all the gaskets you’ll need to. A bargain basement parts cost at least!!
And I thought removing the water pump on my 302 V8 Ford truck was an annoying job … lol . oh, well, the sooner you start @Cavell, the sooner you’ll be done. This doesn’t look like a job where you want to take any shortcuts. Work a couple hours at a time I guess is the best you can do. Eventually it will get done.
The worst part of jobs like these is the wife coming out to the garage every couple of hours saying “when are you getting done? I have to go to work Monday”.
lol … been there, done that @skulldrinker … thanks for the chuckle, wishing you and all happy holiday weekend .
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No, just another job, another broken car to fix.
Yup. You keep paying and we keep fixing. I wouldn’t want to do it without the cam holding fixtures though.
Not really. But the second one you do will go a lot faster than the first.
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re: skulldrinker – lol, indeed. For me the worst part was wife asking “Should you be doing that” on any home or car repair. In her (very fine) family I am the only one who knows that you can use a screwdriver for jobs other than stirring paint.
That question stopped one hot Sunday August afternoon when the house air conditioning had quit and I fixed it. (One pair of contacts on the “contactor” relay was glowing red, along with the wire there. I scrounged a replacement contactor from a local moonlighter, and we were back on cool in 30 minutes. I don’t do real A/C work, but I can do electricity OK.)
They do appreciate my talents now. The next time I came home from a trip the family had put a sign on the front door: “Welcome home Dad. Fix the toilet.” And I did.
I have always believed every household/family should have a spare car
You never know when you’ll need it
For example . . .
you’re changing that water pump on the daily driver car
Some dope t-boned you and your car is at the body shop . . . that actually happened a few months ago
and so forth
db4690 – as long as we are hijacking the thread…
Probably good for family/household to have access to alternate transport, but spare car not always best solution.
In big cities (e.g., NYC, DC, that I know of), particularly for apartment dwellers, it often makes sense not to have a car at all. Use public transport (incl taxicabs or car services); rent a car when needed for trips.
In suburbs (like myself), cost of renting for a week or two is less than the cost of just insuring the third car. (I have a friend who would lend me his spare 35-yr-old Toyota from time to time. He liked having the spare car; it had depreciated to zero; and it was too decrepit to sell or trade in. It’s now 44 years old, and he has cycled two new cars around it for him and his wife.)
In rural areas, spare car might be best choice.
And personal preferences – like valuation of your own time and inconvenience – are valid considerations when it’s your own money :>)