I need to change the water pump on a 2001 2.4 liter 4 cylinder Alero
 

Hello again;
I'm trying to get the water pump changed on this alero, I keep getting conflicting information and so I figured I'd check here and see if anyone has done that on this specific vehicle.

I recently changed one on my daughter's 99 2.4 alero. Yours looks the same. It was a bitch. It runs off of the timing chain. Taking off the exhaust manifold sucks but you almost have to, to get to it. Remove the right wheel, wheel well and splash shields. Then you will have to take the flywheel off and timing chain housing cover. Not much room between that and the frame rail. Do yourself a favor and mark the timing chain and sprockets with an ink pen or something. If you get it mixed up in the process, there is a pretty decent procedure to get it back in time. There are holes in the engine block for you to put a peg through each cam sprocket and the crank sprocket has a dot or mark that lines up with one on the engine block lip. I bought a gasket set for the timing chain cover and it came with a couple of plastic dowels to time the cams to the crankshaft.


The darn pump sits in a corner. A couple of bolts to the engine block and a couple 90 degrees the other way to the timing chain housing, so you sort of have to tighten the bolts a little at a time to get it wedged into the corner without breaking something. If I remember right there is a water pipe on the bottom side of it that has the thermostat in it, and the pipe crosses under the oil pan to the lower radiator hose.


Pretty much the worst water pump I have every replaced in my 50 years. Yet another genious invention that the dealerships love because no one wants to do it themselves. But it's like most DIY projects. I could replace another one now in half the time the first one took me. And usually the more difficult the project the more rewarding when it is when it is all back together and works right.


Let me know if I can be of any help.

Watch yourself!
 

I did this on my wifes vehicle just after she got it. 01 olds alero 4 cylinder with dual overhead cams. I watched a video on it and thought no problem well the video didnt say to mark both cam and chain position exactly together or that the exhaust cam will jump as soon as the tension releases because it has a spring. Well timing jumped and i now had to learn timing the tdc and both sprockets exactly if i couldve rotated enough to put locking pins in the cams BEFORE releasing the tensioner i wouldve been fine but it jumped maybe 2-3 links thought i had it lined up finally i was 1 link off and it wreaks havoc on the entire synergy of the motor so redoing the whole process with more money time and special ed tools and GM certified revised repair manual and alot of swearing i finally got it back on the road but it was ALOT MORE THAN I EXPECTED WITH 1 LITTLE MISTAKE