So this is my first post on this forum (post on many others though) and do have pretty good mechanical skills (maintain about 7 or 8 cars)

My wife has a '97 RS non turbo 2.0 and until the other day, never had a big problem with it 128K.

For some time now it has been losing some coolant but we could never see a leak when it was hot, so she kept adding fluid (and never really said much about it). I did notice some evidence near the filler cap and replaced it thinking the rubber was bad. Seemed to work okay for a bit then back to adding fluid (this is when she never told me).

Fast forward to last Friday and it dies in an intersection. Gets AAA tow home and I'm just getting to it today.

She mentioned that right before it died it 'rattled really loud' and there was coolant on the ground.

Considering it looks like the water pump is leaking (can't directly see the pump but the water is coming off the crank flywheel underneath when I put water in the filler neck) so I figure she heard the water pump bearing going out to lunch?

1. Does that sound like a fair assessment?

2. From what I can see it looks like I have to remove the timing belt to get to the water pump. Is this correct?

3. What type of cost am I looking at? for a water pump and timing belt?

Reason I ask is the car burns ALOT of oil (1 quart per tank) and is looking pretty ragged lately, so I don't want to dump alot of money into it.


No water in the oil pan so that's a plus.....

Also the engine cranks but won't start which seems pretty odd to me (unless maybe it's an electric water pump with a sensor?)

Any help or pointers are welcome

The rain chased me back inside for the evening, but I'm guessing it's an electric water pump as I can;t see the either of the two belts on a pulley where I think the water pump is.

What is the best way to get at the pump? From the top, the bottom, or the front? doesn't look like alot of room between the wheel well and the block...

Man a factory service manual sure would be nice for this job.....

Looking forward to some advice on how to do the job most efficiently.

thanks in advance

Your best bet is to stop at an auto zone or Advanced and pick up a chilton or hayes, I'm not sure if we have a PDF of the Tech manual for download on this site.

Your assessment sounds correct, although like many other things, I'd have to see it to know.

I am almost positive you have to take the timing belt off to get to the water pump itself, this is a standard in most cars.

thanks for the info. I called a buddy who works in a shop and they had a manual that confirms....

What really bothers me is that the engine won't fire anymore. That makes NO sense to me. Could the WP failure cause another issue (like it runs off the timing belt or something?) I know nothing about these engines as I'm well versed in American and antique English motors.

Further research confirms, that's the water pump on the lower right of the picture....

(IMG:http://www.mainstreetla.com/tight/images/000_0455.JPG)

What a crappy design! So if the water pump fails and slows or stops the timing belt your valves are toast.....nice. I have a really bad feeling about this.

:00000732:
yes, the water pump is part of the timing system on these engines, and if it fails the engine eats the valves. no if's and's or butt's.....it's a dumb design.

You can get at it without taking the engine out. I'm assuming that pic is from someone elses engine?

when you crank the engine do you hear noises?

what is the tension like on the timing belt?

since it burns so much oil and now you may have a water pump/timing issue it might just to time to bite the bullet and yank the engine for a rebuild.

it doesn't seem like your wife wants a 300hp car so an OEM rebuild would be just fine and wouldn't cost you more than $800 (including a $300 cook/clean and hone at a machine shop, I'd say around $500 if you can do all that yourself) unless you had to replace the head and pistons.

thunderstorms hear again today so I wait another day....

Thanks for the info, yes I found that pic on the web.
When I cranked it I didn't hear any 'strange' noises, just typical starter cranking the motor sound.

I plan on pulling the valve cover and timing belt covers first to check the belt tension and marks lining up, and also visibly inspect what the valve clearance looks like up top, for any glaring issues.

keep us posted how it goes :thumbsup:

NOt going well. I can't get the **** crankshaft pulley off! In fact I broke the dame thing with my gear puller, then bent the shaft rod in my gear puller and it won't budge.

I don't have the special tools as listed in the Factory manual, and used the existing bolt that holds it on as the spacer, although I backed it out about 5 or 6 turns to give some room for the pulley to 'walk' out.

Now, I'm wondering if the **** pulley is threaded as I've previously pulled much bigger pulleys with this set-up

WHat have you guys used as a spacer where the bolt goes through....

The (special tool) is the only thing that will get the pulley off. I broke puller after puller trying to get mine off. Go to autozone and rent one, like 60 bux. And when you return it you get all your money back.

Well, when i tried to pull my harmonic balancer (back when I did my top end rebuild) I completely broke the balancer and bent the shaft on my gear puller. I ended up having to put a side-grinder to it to get the rest off of the crank shaft. It isn't threaded but its a ***** to get off. That "special tool" for getting it off costs almost exactly the same as a new one so its really up to you. At best, its gonna save a lot of time and trouble.

Here's a relief though. I once had all of my timing components (tensioner and pulleys) completely freeze up and my RS jumped time BIG TIME. Lucky for me none of my valves bent and everything was ok. Of course I pulled the head to make sure everything was ok so I had to buy a new head gasket but I feel as though I got really lucky.

Btw, thoroughly check your timing components (~$60) when you change the timing belt (which cost me like $101 at Advanced Auto) because it might be best to go ahead and replace those as well.

Can't wait to hear how things go since the water pump (along with alternator) is the only thing I haven't replaced on my car to date. :P

Well I did the same thing sort of, broke the edge of the balancer off trying to get it off and finally went to the 'zone and got the right one (had found it on a different forum) and it came off pretty quick.

I haven't been back to revisit this issue in 2 weeks as I had in-laws in town and frankly we have other drivable cars.

As time permits, I will tear into it, but the fact the engine smokes so bad anyway I'm tempted to just let the car go. Anyone in S. FLa that wants a project make me an offer for the car :) Very seriously as I don't have the time to REALLY do what it needs.