cant remove water pump.

[Martiny]

Hi guys
Have removed my failed engine on my 3rd Gen, but I am really struglling to remove the water pump.

I have removed all the 12mm bolts and nuts. Looking from the front of the engine, the left piece is loose, and I can make about a 4 mm gap if I yank on the pump with a tyre lever

But the right hand side seems stuck. There is a long bolt on this side, which snapped after about 1/2 turn. I wonder if there is a ton of rust in there, and the pump is stuck to the front cover somehow.

I am loathe to force it too much, as I believe a new pump is £1600 !!

[K1HKS arse]

Are you trying to remove the water pump and housing from the block or the water pump itself from the housing???

£1600?  Last water pump i bought was £100 + vat.

G

[banned advertiser]

oil pump new £1600 water new £260
http://www.rotaryart.uk.com/acatalog/New_Mazda_RX7_3rd_gen_engine_perf_tuning.html

[Martiny]

Ok, I am trying to remove the housing from the engine.

 - Gary, I asked for water pump in my email :-)

Well, seeing as its 260, I might try a bit more force now !

[Mazdarotaryparts]

Hi Martin,

Unfortunately as the studs are mild steel and the thermostat housing is alloy the studs corrode in the alloy very badly in some cases and this is what has happened I\'m afraid, also the long stud often breaks,

Lots of release oil and prying it off a little then pushing it back on then repeating the process is now the only way.  

Don\'t worry about damaging the thermostat housing, I am sure I have an old one that you can have for postage costs only.

We supply quite a few water pumps and the cost is £78.97 plus vat

Hope this helps.

[Martiny]

Thanks for the advice, Clive.
Reading your post, it feels like thats exactly whats happened. I suppose the front cover has to come off anyway, so I could remove that with the pump still on, though I cant imagine how this will help me remove the pump housing.

Instead, maybe wht I need to do, is put the engine on it\'s back (on the flywheel), then pour a load of oil down that hole where the bolt is.

Actually, seeing as I am working from home, I am going to do that right now !

:-)

Thanks for all the quotes, everyone. But it seems to me the housing has been leaking, not the pump itself.

[Jit]

im confuzzled....maybe cos i havent looked at the front of a rotary for some time..BUT...anyways...

why would the WP and Tstat housing studs cause ANY issue if they corrode? I mean the clearance between the studs and the holes in the tstat housing is pretty big... ?

[nikp]

I had to cut the long bolt off from the right hand side on mine because i couldn\'t get the water pump housing off - it had seized onto the housing and I made a right mess of the housing trying to pry it off. Sounds like it;s a common problem.

[Martiny]

Thanks for all the input guys. I think I have checked at least 100 times that I have removed all the bolts ! :-)

Actually, this 1 broken bolt, is the only thing I have broken so far... thats pretty good for me!

as Clive has a spare housing, I think I will give it a REAL go later this arvie.

[Martiny]

Thanks Clive.
Oiling, levering, and squeezing a screwdriver in the gap and then light malleting, and it came off eventually, I think with only very very slight damage.

I need to inspect it in the daylight, as there was a leak somewhere, maybe I will need a new housing....