crazycraig68
Keep posting. Just like what lghtngblt02 had said some of us are here to help or be helped. My history with dodge/chrysler is a long one. So i have seen the problems with dodge and solved some of them and had help solving other problems. Also by all means you can send a pm at anytime, and will get back to you by the end of the day.

 

thanks man, i appreciate it. i will keep posting when i need to.

 

for instance i just did the WP on my 3.8 caravan and had to bugger around with the 'lower fender shield' and get that detached (only got it half detached)in order to see the water pump bolts, and you need some sort of long thin bar to put thru the WP pulley to stop it from turning when u r undoing the 3 bolts.
the other thing is, should one take the WP off with the Serp belt still on? there's so much lateral pressure from the belt that taking it off and putting it on would be difficult, so really you need to back the tensioner off, etc. and that requires more tools and possibly a helper.
So my point is if u r going to say its an easy job, be real about it!

 

The fan belt does come off before you replace the water pump. Depend on the year of the van 1990 thru 2000 the pump would be on the front of the motor, 2001 and up the pump is on the back side of the motor. What i do to loosen the three pulley bolts is using a long blade screw driver, thru one of the holes in the pulley until the screw driver hits the timing cover. that way you can get the three 13mm/ 1/2 bolt heads off. To remove the tensioner i use a long 15mm wrench.

 

yep its really easy, i just let the splash shield hang, flat blade screw driver and 13mm gear wrench for the 3 pulley bolts, i use a belt tensioner tool with 15mm end, 10mm socket on my ¼" air ratchet. 30min tops to r&r the pump

 

after all this guessing and pressure testing and stuff, the mechanic i had do the head gaskets called me this morning and told me it WAS NOT the rear head gasket as the other mechanic advised me. one of the bolts were broken going into the intake. not sure which one, but it is the one that was leaking the water out. being this new guy had the van, i still told him to do all new gaskets like head, intake, exhaust and whatever else came in the package of gaskets. it will also get a new water pump and thermostat, oil change and fresh antifreeze. now a dealer has only worked on this van prior to me and if the bolt was broken off, good chance it was by them, dont know. there was also a missing bolt from the exhaust manifold that was laying on the frame he found. the dealer did those gaskets some time ago. and to think the dealer tried soaking the previous owner for head gaskets when it didnt even need it.

but regardless of how it happened and why and who did it, who cares now. it will be as new and should not need much of anything for quite some time.

thanks for all your comments and help.

craig