LR4 water pump replacement
 

Has anybody done their own replacement of the water pump on the 5.0 engine. Step by step instructions ? With so many of them having to be replaced I find it odd that little info seems to be available for DIYers.

My self installation notes for what it's worth.
 

I replaced mine yesterday, didn't take photos but I can give you a few details.

Drain coolant: I did this by removing the hose under the passenger side of the vehicle which goes to the rear heater, I had already done this in the past by replacing the existing heater hose to eliminate tire rub running 285/65/18's. Not sure if there is an easier way, someone else may know.

Remove from engine: Engine cover, large top radiator hose, top of fan cowl, disconnect fan power.

Remove belt partially and remove belt tensioner completely, if you remove the belt completely it’s not difficult to put on but will require extra time to figure it out.

Remove water pump: unclamp large short hose from water pump on both sides, remove short small water hose, this uses a compression fitting you can push in and pull out the small water line or unclamp the top and remove it after the pump is out. Now take out the 4 torx screws and wiggle pump out.

Note: behind the pump is a black plastic piece (oil cooler tube) that has 2 O-rings on it, this is usually what fails or leaks not the water pump itself so this will be important to replace.

Clean all surfaces and soak up the remaining coolant seen behind the water pump.

Install pump: insert new O-ring onto the rear hose coming from the engine block, install black plastic coupler and then put new O-ring on the black plastic piece. Now wiggle the new pump into place, the 4 torx screws partially installed held in place by the gaskets. When aligning the pump the rear black coupler you can move the coupler a little right and left to align it. Start each screw slightly and check with a flashlight the rear coupler is mated correctly. Torque the torx screws per specs (7ft lbs. I think) and re-connect all hoses, belt pulley and belt.

After done you will need to do the most important part... replace coolant and remove air from the system. My method was to use the smaller hose sitting on top of the radiator by adding a funnel and pouring coolant inside the tube as well as fill reservoir. After you fill what you can the car will need to be at temp in order for the thermostat to open and allow water flow. Using an OBD reader (torque app) I monitored the temp not to rise higher then 96c or 205f. There are air bleeders on the top of the coolant reservoir and also near the battery compartment on the coolant line near the back of the engine. Slowly open these to release hot air, they will eventually only let out liquid which is what you want. After running thru this scenario I let the car sit overnight which worked out since it seems the coolant reservoir went empty meaning it backfilled itself a little. I refilled and ran the car up to temp, purged ari again, then drove around the neighborhood watching my temps, checked my air vents again and everything looked good.

FYI, I am no expert mechanic but I thought this would help.
I did end up buying the water pump from Amazon (BECKARNLEY 131-2464 Water Pump). I would suggest buying another O-ring and oil cooler tube not included with water pump. LR028136 (tube) and LR030593 (O-ring). Likely your water pump is OK and the only problem is the O-ring but I figured why go through the hassle and not replace it.

X2 on the tube. When i replaced my pump the tube was actually what broke, the plastic literally fell apart.

OK I am going to tackle this on my 2010, it seems simple enough. One question, aprox how much coolant was needed to get the system back to full. I imagine you did not drain the entire 11L?

O think I will go with the Pentosin SF

I find just the opposite. Pumps have always been faulty, we just do the tube for good measure. Of the water pumps we have done, about 50% had failed bearings, probably from the crazy tension on the serpentine belt.
There is actually a service bulletin for water pump leakage, and the pump has superseded part numbers like 8 times.

I am going to embark on this next week. Any tips? Aprox. how much coolant will it take to top up after pump replacement?

I bought a new idler pulley and belts. Overkill?

not overkill. you are in there so if you have the money, may as well replace them. when we do these they usually lose about 2 gallons of coolant. so i would say anywhere from 2 gallons of coolant will do ya.

All done. Replaced pump, belts and the idler pulley. Took about 1 gallon SF to top up.

Damn plastic parts. I replaced the cooler tube behind the water pump but when removing the old pump (bad bearings) the small (tiny!) tube on the front of the pump snapped. The pic below is from the new pump.

Can anyone confirm the part that I need to replace this or the right angle plastic connector that plugs in here?

Thanks!
Tim

It looks like you broke #7 ? Bleed pipe connection.

Ah somebody with a proper diagram! Yes that appears to be the part. All the diagrams I found were so coarse in their fidelity I couldn't discern this part name.

Any idea where I would find a part number for said item?

Thank you,
Tim

LAND ROVER THERMOSTAT HOSE KIT RANGE LR4 RR SPORT 5.0L LR049989 LR045238 OEM | Miami British Corp.

Always call to verify, but I think that is what you are looking for.

That looks like the ticket. Thanks!

Not the ticket.

It turns out that the upper half of the diagram is the part number mentioned, and the part in the lower half which is what I need.

This is a very confusing diagram. I'll attempt to return the parts and get the other pieces ordered.

Sadly, the only part I need is the plastic piece that fits the small hose into a 3mm hole in the front of the water pump. I would have robbed that off said part but $122 for a small bit of plastic, just couldn't do that.

Not impressed with LR parts manuals!

For future reference, what part number did you get, and which of the hoses in the diagram did you get?

I have no idea.

Unfortunately trying to communicate with JP at Miami British proved to be too difficult. I even sent a print out of the attached diagram from their site when I returned the part indicating what I need to replace. So I don't know the actual part I need. All I really needed was the plastic backflow valve anyhow.

My LR4 has the lower green parts (two smaller hoses) and not the larger ones on top. JP was adamant they were the correct parts and is sending the same part to me again.

I guess I just paid about $130 for a $5 part.

Once running it is off to the dealer for trade in for something less problematic. I just don't have time for this. Had enough plastic parts on motors and replacing other parts with 'who cares' level of dealer support even on TSBs that are black and white.

Such a great vehicle design but the gremlins are just winning on this owner over the past 3 years.

I'm half-way through this job on my 2011 LR4. Disassembly is complete, tomorrow I will re-assemble.

First, thanks for this thread! It really helped fill-in the missing info from the shop manual.

Here's what I can add:
- the bottom left side of the radiator has a quick-release connector for the transmission cooler line. This is the easiest drainage spot. You do need to remove the small plastic protector near the wheel-well to access.
- the fan can be removed with a universal fan kit. You don't need the Land Rover tool. I used this one:

Where did you find the shop manual? I haven't been able to locate one.

Here:
Discovery 4 Workshop Manual - Land Rover Forum in Africa

The shop manual is over 5000 pages long. I cut out the "Engine Cooling - V8 5.0L Petrol" section and saved to my tablet. It's only about 45 pages long and I think it starts around page 1294?

Atleastbehandy thank you so much, I've been looking all over for one of those, obviously not in the right places. Thanks again.

I have also broken this part. Does anyone know a part number or of a part that I can substitute that will get the job done? Also, I cannot get the smaller belt back on. Is there a trick or am i not seeing a tensioner? Any help is greatly appreciated!

J.D.

Hey, new LR4 owner and new here after finding this thread. Found it very helpful, thanks. A few items to add that may help others that I didn't see in here yet (or I missed).

I was having a hard time getting the transmission cooler line coupling apart at the radiator even after pulling back the metal lock clip (I actually even took the clip off completely). I also wasn't too excited about the bath of coolant I was likely to take as I was not in a very good position to catch it.

So, I came up with another way to remove the coolant. I used my fluid vacuum (I have a Pela unit, looks same as mityvac fluid extractor). At the Y fitting right by the top of the expansion tank I was able to connect and was able to hold enough of a vacuum that I got a good amount out, about two liters. Then as I was working my way down with the hoses, I would just use the fluid vac pump to keep removing. Such as once I had top radiator hose off, I could snake it down into radiator. And then when I had thermostat housing off I could then go down in there. overall I pulled out about 3 liters with the pump and also used it to clean up the area behind the water pump where fluid collects.

Lastly, the fan clutch nut is left hand thread on my 2012 LR4. In some other threads I found on the 4.6 engine in earlier Discos it was right hand thread. I didn't find anything specific to thread orientation for the LR4. The 5.0 in mine was left hand thread. So from front of the car, the nut needs to go clockwise to loosen. A tap or two on a 36mm service wrench was all that was needed, no special tools.

Great forum!

To those who have done this work at home, how would you rate the inconvenience level?

I've got a quote of $950 from LR, and $750 from an indie shop... That's high enough to make me consider doing the work, but I have had issues in the past discovering after I start that there is a bolt I can't reach, or a wrench I can't fit, or something that screws up the whole deal.

Will I hate myself for attempting this with basic garage tools? Will this take more than an evening under the hood covered in coolant?

3 nights and a 36mm fan wrench
 

i already had all the typical mechanic Tools: Metric sockets, jack and stands, etc... the only special tool I needed was the 36mm fan wrench and clutch holder. I bought off Amazon with 1 day delivery. The job went like this:
1st evening after work I lifted the front, removed skid plates, drained coolant, removed fan shroud. Then I ordered the fan wrench when I realized nothing I had would fit.
2nd evening after work I removed the fan and idler. Then cursed and swore at the water pump for an hour while I tried to remove it! I finally got it out and quit for the night (with many beers).
3rd evening I installed the new pump (way easier than removing the old), re-installed everything, filled the coolant and went through the bleeding process.

I would call this medium difficulty, with brakes being easy, and timing chain being difficult.

Man, the internet is a beautiful place some days!

Thanks for an awesome response, this is exactly the sort of information I was hunting for.

I am doing this job right now. I didn't need to remove any hoses other than the top hose and disconnect the 2 hoses off the water pump.

I am really struggling getting the new pump into place and engaged onto the oil cooler tube without dropping the new gaskets. I've tried blobs of grease on the gaskets but every time I try to get the pump onto the oil cooler tube, I dislodge a gasket and can't get the bolts in. I have now put a bit of RTV sealant around the bolt holes on the gasket and bolted the gaskets in place and am waiting for that to set. However, I still am struggling to see the best way to engage the oil cooler tube into the hole on the back of the pump.

Any tips on this?

Is it better to put the oil cooler tube on the engine block or the pump first?

Plastic pipe on engine first, no grease on the gaskets
 

Maybe there are other ways, but I put the pipe on the engine first, so I had 3 'holes' to aim at. Also my gasket was metal and tight enough on the bolts that it stayed in place. My method was to keep all 4 bolts in the pump with a few threads engaged on the gaskets. This kept everything aligned. I also kept the check-valve unbolted and pushed over an inch or so to give me space (per the shop manual). Frankly, the pump basically fell in place!

OK, thanks for that. Got the water pump installed.
Having the next nightmare with the serpentine belt routing. I have the routing diagram and was attempting to replace it with a new one, but seems like I have to remove the viscous coupling and primary belt, but that has crazy tension and no apparent way to reduce the tension to pull the unit off.

Now I have the old serpentine belt routed correctly, but there is a load of slack in the belt and the tensioner is nowhere near putting tension into the belt. I have checked the routing 10 times and am unable to see any errors.

**update - somehow when routing the old belt back into place, it was passing under the viscous coupling pulley, not over it. All back together now, took about 6 hours all up. Would have been 3-4 if I hadn't tried to change the serpentine belt.

Yes the small belt is a stretch to fit and easiest to cut old one off and stretch new one on. nice work on the how to. I did my pump in the spring but drained coolant from the bottom. Did you just pull the top hose?

Yes, I just removed the top hose, I saw no need to drain all the coolant from below, as the car has been leaking coolant from the water pump down the engine block ever since I bought it in June. When I removed each hose I lost a quart or so each time, which I caught in a large tray under the engine. No need to get under the car at all (except when retrieving dropped tools). The coolant top up used about 1.1 gallons.

(I didn't even remove the fan as my fan wrench has not yet arrived from Amazon, but it would have been easier with the fan removed.)

Thanks everyone who has contributed their experience in this thread. I replaced my water pump today and found your input was very helpful. I was particularly careful with the small bleed pipe as some have had it break.

I was unable to get the fan off. I have the spanner wrench I bought for my LR3 a few years back that despite being the correct size leaves just enough play to slip off rounding off the nut.. not good. I had ended up buying a combo wrench that worked great on the LR3 but did not fit the LR4 since there isn't much space for the thicker wrench and pulley tool. I didn't have luck with the combo wrench and hammer either so I decided to go ahead and try without taking off the fan and it wasn't too bad. I may try buying another spanner and see if I just got a bad one.

Biggest problem I had was getting the large short hose off the water pump.. ended up using a flat head screw driver to wedge under the hose and worked around to help it off.

Part
 

What did you end up using for the small plastic peice that broke going into the water pump? Did you find a part number?

Thanks
Stuart

I also didn't remove the fan for exactly the same reason. Please view the sticky DIY thread I wrote for waterpump replacement.

Did anyone ever figure out the plastic 90 that goes to the front of the water pump. Mine as well broke....

Still leaking.
 

Water leak around water return from pump (pressure fitting)
 

Hello all,

New to the forum here, and just installed a new water pump and updated to the new two hose design (I didn't have an option as I broke the brittle elbow from the water pump). In fitting the new hose design where the water pump connects with the small pressure fitting, I am getting water leakage on pressure test and running engine. I've disconnected and reconnected multiple times and can't seem to get the fitting to seal. Anyone have any tricks or suggestions?

You can/should replace the small pipe behind the water pump. That is often the source of leaks- this leads to the oil cooler. I picked one up for about $24 from the dealership. Make sure you also get the o-ring that goes around the pipe that leads to the oil cooler (its about $8 and will save you from having to do the job all over again).

what is the check valve for ? Land rover gave me a new setup that connects to hose at thermostat but it doesnt have a check valve

Leak after replacement
 

Hi. My husband replaced the water pump, belts, oil cooler tube & o-rings, flushed and refilled radiator. He finished yesterday. Haven’t started it because there is a transmission fluid slowly dripping from close to where the engine meets the passenger compartment. He thinks it could be the replaced oil cooler tub o-rings or the crossover pipe. Any thoughts? TIA!
Kim