Chim Water Pump Gasket

[ACB82]

Im a new TVR Chim owner and love the car and have just experienced my first problem:

The car is a 1998 450, the Gasket on the water pump has just gone, Iv been told its a common occurance. Was just wondering if anyone else has had this problem?
And if they have: how much are they to get fixed?

Cheers.

[ATG]

Yes, it's pretty common. I've put 50,000 miles on mine since I bought it and I've replaced the water pump gasket twice, so that means each one has lasted roughly 30,000 miles FWIW. Can't remember what it cost to have fitted. The gasket itself costs buttons, so the price for the job will be down to the labour. From memory the water pump looks fairly easily accessible, so I doubt it would take too long to replace.

p.s. welcome to Pistonheads!

Edited by ATG on Wednesday 8th November 20:50

[ACB82]

Cheers mate,

Iv been quoted about £350, does that seem high?

[adam459]

that's robbery. done my own and only took about an hour, and i'm only a kitchen fitter. its a very simple job.

[ATG]

Seems steep to me. I wonder what an independent Landrover repair shop would charge for the job?

[RCA]

Are you brave enough to give it ago yourself?
Any good at mechanics? It is a fairly straight forward easy job!!
You don't need to go to a TVR specialists for it to be done, any mechanic can do it.
Like above I did my own when it was needed, not a long job at all!!
I would say about £120-£150 at the most for someone else to do it!
cheers Rich

[jsr]

I made my own from gasket paper a few years ago. Doesn't take long. It's also very easy to get at the water pump and remove/re-fit. I wouldn't pay someone to do such an easy job.

[mt10argyll]

Ditto basic diy job

[S4CJO]

Easy job, even easier if you take the bonnet off which allows you to lie over the top of the rad and get in there with your socket. Just make sure it's a good gasket, I also put a thin film of blue Hylomar on the gasket before fitting. Tighten up to the correct torque and job done. Finally topping up the rad and carrying out the bleeding procedure as per the Bible.

Give it a go..........

[sparkythecat]

ACB82 said:

Cheers mate,

Iv been quoted about £350, does that seem high?

Are you sure it's the water pump gasket that's failed?.

I ask that as there are two gaskets at the front of the engine behind the water pump. One is is the gasket between the water pump and the timing cover. This is as others have described relatively straight forward to fix and shouldn't result in that sort of bill.

However there is a second gasket between the timing cover and the front of the engine block. To replace this gasket you have to remove the timing cover which involves a fair bit more dismantling. For instance, there are two bolts which secure the sump pan onto the bottom of the timing cover. So in order to remove the timing cover you have to loosen those sump bolts. This necessitates draining off the engine oil. If you are very lucky you may then be able to seperate the timing cover from the sump pan without damaging the sump gasket and need only use a dab of sealant to reseal the sump gasket on reassembly.

If however the sump gasket is damaged as you remove the timing cover (very likely!) then that gasket will also have to be renewed. This job, although time consuming involves no specialst tools and can be undertaken, by any reasonably competent home mechanic using the relavant Haynes Range Rover manual. It took me around 5 hours from start to finish. Given that the coolant, oil, oil filter and sump gasket may also need replacing if they have become contaminated £350 all in for this job doesn't seem that unreasonable at todays garage rates.