I have a naturally aspirated 1989 RX-7 that I am currently in the process of rebuilding the engine on. I'm trying to remove the water pump, but is being difficult. I've removed the nuts on the posts that are securing the water pump to the engine block, and with a little coaxing, it should come off.

This is not the case. Ive tried wiggling, tapping with a hammer and wood, lubing, prying and other various techniques and I cant seem to get the pump off. The pump is coming free at three of the four bolts, but the fourth one is stuck. See image below.



As you can see, the nut is off on that post.

Anyone have any experience with this or have any idea as to how to get this free? I've tried moderate force, but I did not want to damage anything.

Rob

 

did you take the 3 bolts out as well? (from your post it sounds to me like you just took the 4 nuts off and not the 3 bolts) if you did IDK what It could be other than if it got hot enough to start to melt the two parts together at some point...but I don't think that is too possible. I can imagine the motor would be dead before that.

(forgive me if I sound total noobish, the only reason I know anything about this is I just replaced my water pump last night, it came right off with a little force)

 

Are you absolutely sure that you have removed all the bolts? To make sure, just remove all the bolts and nuts from the water pump and water pump housing. It is possible the gasket is quite stuck, but a few blows with a hammer will generally fix that.

 

Yeah it should come off by hitting it a little with a rubber mallet but if not I really don't know how else to help you. Like aaroncake said, the gasket could have melted together or gotten stuck.

 

Turns out that the water pump had been replaced by a previous owner. The stud in question was threaded into the block about 1/4 of a turn and then JB welded into place!

What the hell!

The thread locker got into the water pump bolt hole causing it to get stuck really nicely. After spending some time beating it with a hammer, it finally came off.

Thanks for your help, but there is no accounting for other people's stupidity.

Rob