Van Water Pump Replacement

01/07/11
The van suddenly started squealing when Katrina was at the store, so we nursed it back home and the diagnostic opinion was that the water pump needed to be replaced.

The thing is, when you have to do work 'through the letterbox' which is the opening in the front of the van, you should replace anything you suspect might be wearing out so you don't have to open it all back up to work on something related to it in the near future.

So, I decided to replace the water pump (the fan belt is relatively new), the belt tensioner, idler pulley, upper and lower radiator hoses, the thermostat housing gasket and heater hoses. Seriously, after wrestling with the fan shroud and housing, replacing missing bolts, moving the radiator over so it's now sitting properly in the lower saddles and reinstalling the A/C hoses and replacing the seals, I wanted to make sure everything was done so I don't have to go back in there anytime soon...