DIY water pump and crossover pipe Video.

[DaytonaRS7]

Adding my experience...
Took about 1.5 hours, if I had no issues.
Took 2 hours since I didn't seat the 90 degree ****** on the water pump all the way, and couldn't hold a vaccum when refilling coolant.

Everything else went smooth and as expected

I didn't need to take off the fan. Some people and threads recommend this.

 

[portlandlife]

DaytonaRS7 - Did it take you 1.5-2 hours to replace both the front and rear cooling pipes? Wow! I did it this weekend and took the better part of the weekend for me. I'm a newbie mechanic so took my time. Front pipe wasn't bad but that rear crossover pipe was a real pain. Not to mention I'm 5'6, so even in access mode, I had use a short step stool and lean all the way across to work on the rear of the motor - back is killing!

Do you or anyone have bleeding procedure for the V8 5.0? I had the bleeder valve on the reservoir and the bleeder valve on the top passenger metal pipe open, but when I added coolant I couldn't get it to pour out of the bleeder valve. I saw some air bubbles in the reservoir. Started car, ran the heater, and confirmed heater working in front and back. Idled car for about 6 min at 2500rpm. Engine got up to normal operating temp and didn't go past. This morning reservoir "settled" and I added a little more coolant to fill to max line.

I'm just worried about air being in the system as it didn't seem like a proper bleed. Do you have to remove the front air intake plum to remove the cap on the bleeder at the top of the front crossover pipe? Why wouldn't coolant overflow through the bleeder valve? Any help appreciated!

 

[DaytonaRS7]

DaytonaRS7 - Did it take you 1.5-2 hours to replace both the front and rear cooling pipes? Wow! I did it this weekend and took the better part of the weekend for me. I'm a newbie mechanic so took my time. Front pipe wasn't bad but that rear crossover pipe was a real pain. Not to mention I'm 5'6, so even in access mode, I had use a short step stool and lean all the way across to work on the rear of the motor - back is killing!

Do you or anyone have bleeding procedure for the V8 5.0? I had the bleeder valve on the reservoir and the bleeder valve on the top passenger metal pipe open, but when I added coolant I couldn't get it to pour out of the bleeder valve. I saw some air bubbles in the reservoir. Started car, ran the heater, and confirmed heater working in front and back. Idled car for about 6 min at 2500rpm. Engine got up to normal operating temp and didn't go past. This morning reservoir "settled" and I added a little more coolant to fill to max line.

I'm just worried about air being in the system as it didn't seem like a proper bleed. Do you have to remove the front air intake plum to remove the cap on the bleeder at the top of the front crossover pipe? Why wouldn't coolant overflow through the bleeder valve? Any help appreciated!

It took me closer to 3 hours, for just front and rear pipes. I did the water pump separately, which took 2 hrs.

Ithe rear was a *****. Got a few scratches on my hands and took the majority of the time. I'm 6'2" and I got comfortable sitting on the engine compartment, over where the passenger filter would be. And it still wasn't that comfortable. Lol.

I highly recommend a vacuum coolant bleeder. Requires an air compressor, but purges the system of air, ensures there is no leaks, and fills in 5 minutes. Its all done from the coolant reservoir. It's the best $80 I've spent on a tool. I use it across multiple cars and makes the "final" step of any coolant related work an easy one. The last thing you want and the end of a job is the annoying, tedious, messy process of an old school coolant bleeding.
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-schwabe...r9tnV1C34PB92bN7SjnBy2GMgKut5WOhoCc_UQAvD_BwE

 

[portlandlife]

Thank you for that recommendation! I will order that tonight. Love anything that takes guess work. 3 hours is awesome. Took me about that long removing the intake manifold which was my first time to do that as well.


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[portlandlife]

Did you drain all the coolant to do the pipes? I didn’t. Looks like the vacuum pump is for when you drain all the coolant? Do you think it’s effective when just topping off, as in replacing the coolant that leaked when removing the front crossover pipe?


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[DaytonaRS7]

Thank you for that recommendation! I will order that tonight. Love anything that takes guess work. 3 hours is awesome. Took me about that long removing the intake manifold which was my first time to do that as well.


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I used an air ratchet. Removed/installed manifold bolts in 2 minutes. Be careful torquing them down using this method though.

Did you drain all the coolant to do the pipes? I didn’t. Looks like the vacuum pump is for when you drain all the coolant? Do you think it’s effective when just topping off, as in replacing the coolant that leaked when removing the front crossover pipe?


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I drained whatever came out when I disconnected the hose down in the bumper on the driver's side. I think little over 1 gallon for waterpump.

More like 2 gallons for the crossover pipes between what came out of the hose and what leaked out when the pipes were removed.

 

[ryanjl]

Bumping this thread back up for a summary of the crossover pipe consensus.

Front crossover pipe: I believe we all agree the front should probably be changed every 60k miles, correct? Has the design of the front pipe ever been modified? And it's a good idea to change the water pump at the same time, right?

Rear crossover pipe: should it be preemptively changed like the front? If so, when? Or is it more a "wait for it to start leaking" thing?

My front crossover pipe was changed under warranty at 59k miles. I just hit 100k, so I'm looking at changing it again in about another 15k miles. My water pump was changed under warranty at 80k miles, but I might just go ahead and change it again at the same time to make sure everything's kosher.

I do not believe my rear crossover has ever been changed. It would be nice if I could wait until the front needed changed and do the rear at the same time, though.

 

[jlglr4]

60K sounds about right to me, although I did it at 52K (coolant smell that I couldn’t track down) and it was already pretty weak. But I think it would have lasted to 60K.

The front pipe on the supercharged engine is a two-piece design - the crossover part on top, and the Y-shaped piece that goes down to the block. Both pipes have been redesigned and must be purchased together.

If you have the V8, I don’t think the pipe has been redesigned - at least I haven’t seen anyone else say that.

My rear crossover looked fine at 52K - I replaced it anyway because I had the thing apart. I don’t have much info on how often they fail or how badly they fail. 115K might be pushing it. I’d say just do them both as soon as you get a chance.

Tough call on the water pump. Certainly easier when you have it all apart. I guess you could swap it and just hold on to that old one as a spare. It’s probably got some decent mileage left.

 

[ryanjl]

Yeah, should have said mine's a 2012 with the 5.0.

 

[djkaosone]

@ryanjl if you're doing the work yourself, yes, I would go ahead and do it all at once.