Water pump replacement

Replacing a water pump on an impala is actually pretty easy because the water pump is right there on top easily accessible!

Here are the steps (you may still want to get you a manual though):
- First, drain your coolant.
- Remove the serpentine belt
- Disconnect the bottom hose from the water pump
- Remove the water pump pulley
- Remove the water pump
- Scrap the old gasket off the engine, and make sure the mounting location on the engine is clean.
- Install the new water pump with a new gasket and some RTV sealant just to make sure it is water tight.
- Put the pulley back on the new pump
- Reconnect the bottom hose
- Reinstall the serpentine belt
- Refill your cooling system with coolant
- turn your car on and let it run with the radiator cap off and the bleeder valves open (you should have two: one nearby the water pump and one on the thermostat housing). Once the coolant start gushing out of the valves, shut them off. Once the coolant is almost at the top of your radiator neck, put the cap back on.
- check for leaks.

If you have done the job correctly and it is not leaking, you are done! Otherwise you have to start again.

Check your temperature gauge for a couple of days, make sure there's no problem. Also, monitor your coolant level for a few days and add as necessary.

I replaced my water pump a few months ago and I got a re-manufactured water pump for $12.00, so it is not an expensive job. (At a car shop, they would probably charge you $200.00 to $250.00 for this job).
Also, if you have not serviced your cooling system in a while, now may be the right time to flush it and put new Dexcool coolant in there. ;)

You do not need any special tools for this job, except for a torque wrench (the water pump and the pulley must be tighten at a specific torque! ), But I am sure you have one already.

Total cost:
- water pump: $12.00 to $20.00.
- dexcool coolant: $20.00 for two gallons (you will probably use less than that).

That is it. Good luck!

If you wan to follow these directions cool, but I suggest leaving the radiator cap off while you run it to be sure all the air is out of the system. After that is complete, the you know the cooling system is full. You should only need to purchase one gallon of Dex Cool. After you use that gallon fill that container with water and use the water after that. Also, when you install the water pump, unless you do not have the gasket mating surface completely cleaned, do not use RTV to seal it. The gasket should be all you need. You can use it if you like but it is not necessary. Also, if you have a 3.4 there is no hose to disconnect.

Oops!
Rhall77 is right, you do not have to disconnect the bottom hose. My bad.
As far as the RTV, it is not necessary indeed. I did not need it when I did mine as a matter of fact. But sometime even a new gasket is not enough to prevent a leak, especially if your mounting surface is dirty (it happened to me when I replaced my thermostat on my ranger; I only used the gasket, no RTV, and it leaked. I had to redo the job using RTV).

Anyway, thanks for your corrections Rhall77.