Using a Stant Safety cap with the release lever willallow you to vent any air without pulling the cap, but it will not help the air get to the cap which is the reason for jacking up the front passenger corner.

 

ahh okay. Well I forgot to go buy a safty cap, so I wound up jacking the truck up anyway and it burped instantly. All heat returned after the t-stat opened. I was excited. Checked the coolant and it was always dropping which I was told is good, so I kept filling it. Put the cap on, let it run for 20 minutes and went to take the cap off.... this was bad...

the cap was ice cold still.. it had no proessure to it.. soo I looked under the front end while it was running and thats when I seen it a nice stream of coolant just streaming down. Threw a piece of cardboard down, slid under and seen it was coming out of the water pump. So I guess im not entirely finished. Which is another Homer "DOH" moment for me because I should of replaced that in the begining like I planned on but didn't bother. Ahh damnit! So how hard is it to replace the water pump on this motor with it still being in the vehicle? Also, what else should I do while im at it cuz i don't want to have to get all excited bout getting it done just to find out I should of done something else.

 

Install a clean out T in the heater hose that runs between the heater core and the intake manifold. The air is trapped in the heater core. With the truck running, slowly loosen the cap on the clean-out T. You will get a mixture of coolant and air bubbles. That was the ONLY way I have been able to get the air out quickly. What happens is the air bubble in the heater core gets pushed to the water pump. Water pumps dont like to pump air. If the bubble is large enough the entire pump could be filled with air instead of coolant. A clean out t is cheap. It has saved me tons of time.

 

So I should get a clean out T before condeming my pump? I mean the coolant was really jsut streaming, peeing pretty much, out of the water pump from what seemed to be out the weep hole. My brother always told me if the coolant is coming out of the weep hole then the pump is bad.

the truck has 150k miles on it. I feel this is releavent to this case since the information I find on the web all tell me that after 90k miles you should flush your system, change the t-stat. So when I go to buy my new pump should I just go ahead and buy a new fan clutch as well?? What would happen if i do NOT replace the fan clutch when im replacing the pump? Do they go bad? Do I even have one on my fan since its plastic? ive only ever seen them on the metal heavy duty fans.

 

I wouldnt replace the fan clutch unless it is bad. It should not spin freely when you spin it, but it shouldnt be locked up either.

It is possible that the air bubble i referred to could have made its way into the water pump. We have a V-16 diesel at work that if you dont burp the system after replacing the waterpump, you WILL have to replace the pump again 30 seconds after start-up. Coolant lubricates the seal. Please spend the 3 dollars and install the cleanout T.

 

The fan does turn but not freely, i have to use pressure to turn it, so the clutch isn't bad thankfully!!! Really not trying to pay another 60 for the clutch hahaha

inless then an hour im going to get the parts. Im getting:
Water pump
Water pump gaskets
BLACK Silicone (I have the blue kind but was told by numerous people and videos not to use the red or blue)
a large cresent wrench (Might just use my vice-grips though)
At least 1 gallon of coolant
And a prayer hahahaha

I was just attempting to get the fan clutch off, noticed someone has already had it off before cuz they used a chisel to do it from the notches in it is how i got this conclusion. Hope they didn't fung it all up so I can still get it off. Any tips that you want to bestow upon me would be awesome!! ima check this before i take the fan off and again after just in case.

EDIT: The fan clutch is reverse thread on mine (I had to turn it to the driver side to get it to come loose) incase anyone else has to go through this they won't have to wonder which way to try to turn it I guess. The tension pulley was a pain in the ***. The nuts for the pully are either rusted good on there or just plain stuck, so im at a impass until tmw after work. Going back to get the silicone and some PB Blaster. Figure of the pully nuts are being a pain, then the bolts holding the pump on are going to be a huge pain as well. Definately gotta make sure I lable the heater hoses, ill get those confused and switch them and then soemthing else will go wrong im sure. With the dark rolling in, im done for the night. Ill finish it on saturday when I got the day off again. Gah this sucks...

 

This is the final post for this issue. I got it all fixed, with one little bug. The vents do NOT blow any kind of air out, i looked it up and it all points to actuator switch or blend door. Its pretty nice outside and im not worried bout that right now. I just want to know if I do not fix this right away will it have any problems with my motor?

 

A problem with the vents will not prohibit the operation of the vehicle. Just dress for the weather! That is, of course, providing that all other operating parameters are within proper limits (engine temp, oil pressure, etc).