Water Pump install question

​​​​I am planning for my pump install. Parts should be here later this wk. My problem is that ​​​I hate showering in antifreeze. For that reason I am trying to do some planning minimize my bath. I will have the car on my Kwiklift with the rear end of the car about 14-16" higher than the front of the car. Question: The coolant is fairly new, so there is no need to drain entirely and flush. I want to drain as little as possible. Should I drain via the drain plug until it stops running, or forget about the plug and just pull the hoses (pump and thermostat) Will I drain the same amount either way? Is it important to use hose clamp pliars? I figured that I would limit the amt drained by having the front of the car (radiators) so much lower. Is my thinking correct?

I would pull the plug and drain into a clean container. There will also be some coolant in the hoses. No getting around that. You'll probably drain 3 or 4 gallons that way. For my money, I would spring for two gallons of fresh Porsche coolant and 2 gallons of distilled water. It's not that much money if you have a Porsche dealer nearby. On the other hand, if you have to pay for shipping it might be worth it to reuse what you have. One tip that someone told me after the fact - use a slim-walled socket (I think 10mm, but check) for the bolt on the right side of the pump. I didn't know they existed and getting that bolt out with a crescent wrench 1/16th of a turn at a time was a nightmare. That bolt alone took about 80% of the time to do the job.

Just drain from the drain plug till nothing comes out, then remove coolant hose going to the thermostat to drain the rest. Then you can remove the water pump with minimal coolant spill.

Did mine earlier this year. Pull hose and drain plugs first and watch is rain, than pee for hours and hours. Just when you think its done more will show. Messy job but a great DIY project.

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2nd. If you follow these steps you'll lose very little coolant, and if you drain it into a clean container you can reuse it, assuming it's relatively new.

Pour coolant from your drain bucket though a fine screen strainer (a fine paint strainer works well) before putting back in the car (just in case you got and dirt, sand etc. in there).

Thanks everybody, you have all been very helpful.

I would drain it ALL out and then refill using a vacuum assist tool. Drain it everywhere possible, disconnect the hoses and get it ALL out. Coolant is cheap compared to the aggravation of having to bleed it later. Notoriously difficult to do without the vacuum assist tool.

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I agree, I tried the refill using the add some, rev RPM's etc and still had an air pocket. I bought the UView 550000 Airlift kit on amazon and it worked perfectly.

If you get air pockets in the heads revving it will not make them come out. A vac-lift system is needed. Take your time and you will be fine.

Two questions: 1. How do I know if I have air pockets? 2. will the vacuum assist work if I have not drained all of the coolant?

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1. You will know when the engine overheats, peg to the red zone 2. No, you have to remove ALL the water, or 99% of it. The presence of significant water will not allow a vacuum to build. The Airlift system works by attaching an air hose from a compressor to it, using the venturi effect to build a vacuum inside your cooling system. A large amount of mixed coolant is introduced to the system and the vacuum sucks in the coolant, which fills up all the void. No bleeding is needed.

The U-lift is no doubt the way to go, best money you can spend just to avoid all the frustration of bleeding.

Here is a simple procedure to drain all coolant out of the system, and refill. Thanks to Ahsai. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...pump-tips.html

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+1 on this procedure it works great, just keep the air pressure low as he says in the writeup. When doing the waterpump it's also a great time to replace your AOS, thermostat, coolant tank (while intake is off for AOS), alternator voltage regulator/brush pack, and go thru the vacuum hoses on top of the engine....if you have not sorted these items already.

Ahsai has it all written up for you. Check the link posted above. I used his method of introducing pressurized air and got all the coolant that I could get to. The only thing that I did/do differently is that I take off the hole bumper assembly... all of 15 minutes to do if that... including jacking up the car and setting up jack stands.

If I used Ahsai's method, but did not drain the heater core, would the Ulift still work?

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Yes, it should.

Ahsai: Thanks for the lightning fast reply.

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I vacuum refill like the ulift is the way to go and will drain all the remaining coolant before refilling. There are videos on YouTube on how vacuum refilling works.

Well, the job is done. I have driven the car about 25 mi and the coolant level is holding steady so I must be in good shape. I had trouble dropping the coolant pump, but finally figured out an orientation to get it to come out. The thermostat housing was out, engine support bracked moved forward but I screwed around with it 15 min before it came. Wen installing the new one, I already had installed the thermostat housing. Getting the water pump into position was a no go for me. I then removed the lower idle pulley and dropped the pump right in from above. 3 minutes total, and that included removing the pulley.