I was a 1.9l mechanical noob when I replaced the water pump on my
"new" van, and I know that if there was no alcohol present, my PITA
rating for the job would have been an 8. With the calming effects of
beer however, I would rate it a 4. Patience and a good howto are all
you need.

fwiw, from my forays into electric water pumps on mazda rx7s, the
electric pump just shifts the load on the system( from the water pump
to the alternator ), giving you about the same fuel economy as you had
before.

Sudhir

On 2/7/07, Geza Polony <gezapolony@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Folks, volks,
>
> Time to do the water pump. Sounds like there's a loose tooth knocking around
> in there. Does anyone have a brand to recommend that last longer than the
> others? (Mine only went 18K miles.) Or are they all about the same, so get
> the cheapest?
>
> Also: I happened to see an electric conversion kit for water pumps at one
> online store. Ever mess with these? Seems like a logical way to increase
> horsepower.
>
> On a scale of 1 to 10, how much of a PITA is it to do the water pump on a
> 1.9, with 10 being an automatic transmission rebuild on the side of the road,
> and one being...well, there isn't any "one" for us permanent mechanical
> newbies. My scale starts at around 3.
>
> Geza
>