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The expensive money doing this job is the labor. Unless you do the work yourself expect to be charged about 3 hours labor on that engine if it still has the air pump. Shops around here are charging $100 to $125 an hour.
Have any of you had the water pump and thermostat replaced? If so, how much did they cost?
Never had one replaced, but definitely replaced a few myself. It'll take you a while if you've never worked on a car before, but it's worth it both for the savings and for the experience.
Replacing the water pump on a 1980s 307 pretty much requires removal of all the accessory brackets. That means that the alternator, PS pump, and A/C compressor all need to come off first. Of course, the fan and upper half of the shroud need to come out also. That's where all the time is. Once you've done that, replacing the pump and t-stat takes only minutes.
Three things to be aware of.
First, the front cover on an Olds motor is just sheet metal, and it is frequently rusted under the water pump. These pits can prevent the new gasket from sealing properly. Be sure the shop considers this. I've actually surfaced the cover on the motor using a disk grinder to fix this.
Second, the water pump is held in place with four 5/16" diameter bolts and four 1/4" diameter self-tapping screws. The latter simply thread into formed bosses in that sheet metal cover. Gorilla mechanics frequently over-torque these fasteners and strip the threads. Repair of that is time consuming. More likely, they will simply glue the bolt in place with RTV and not tell you about it, hoping that it won't leak until you get away from their shop (the "five second or five feet" warranty). The correct torque specs are shown here:
Third, the PS pump bracket uses two spacers between the bracket and the block. These must be reinstalled correctly or the PS pump belt will not be aligned. Also, if the pump belt is not properly tensioned, the belt will squeal. The 307 motor is especially sensitive to this. There are THREE fasteners that you need to loosen to adjust the belt, the two bolts on the front and the one nut at the bottom rear of the pump. Once you loosen all three, use a large screwdriver as a pry bar and insert it between the nose of the pump and the tab on the bracket, between the pulley and the bracket. The photo shows the proper position of the screwdriver with the pulley removed for clarity. Use the screwdriver to tension the belt while tightening the two bolts on the front, then get the nut on the back. Failure to do this properly is why there are frequent posts about belts squealing.
Damn that's a some good info on changing a 307 water pump.
That info applies to pretty much any 1964-1990 Olds motor, though the 64-67 cars with the high-mounted PS pump don't have the spacer and adjustment issues that the 68-up motors have.
Damn that's a some good info on changing a 307 water pump.
X2,
I have changed many over the years and still wouldn't be able to explain the route to take via the web.
Put-er-ther Joe!
Perfectly executed explanation on how to do the job, with pics. That will save the posted hundreds if he/she attempts it !!
Better than any online mechanic, quite possibly , any of today's mechanics you find to service your Olds.
Joes post is very good for the power steering but the air pump bracket is really a bitch to get to all of the bolts. On my 85 I torched a hole in the bracket just to get to one bolt head rather than use an open end wrench and taking about forty turns just to get the bolt put. Of course that was before ratcheting box end wrenches.
November 8th, 2018, 02:29 PM
