# 2.0 Beetle: How do I change the water pump?



## Shari (Jun 13, 2010)

Hello. all! New to the forums, but need some help!

We purchased a Convertible '04 Beetle with a 2.0 engine a couple of weeks ago. (And my wife & I LOVE the car! How fun!) I have been warned about the water pump problems caused by the plastic fan blades & had planned to change it soon... just not this soon! 

Red temp light started flashing & beeping today. My wife pulled over, turned car off & called me. Once I got there, car was cooled off enough to start w/o light... but it didn't take long (1-2 miles) and the light was back on & flashing. We got the car home on a trailer & located a new (metal) water pump at Auto Zone.

I've done work on several cars, but have no experience with VW's (yet!). My question? Where do I start? How do I change the water pump on this car?

Thanks in advance!!! :thumbup:


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## DSLBUG (Jun 19, 2008)

The water pump is driven by the timing belt, so the work required is basically the same as a TB change. Since that is the case, you might as well replace the tensioner and timing belt too. Also make sure you get new stretch bolts for the motor mounts. Personally, I would take the water pump you bought back to Autozone. There are good pumps out there and there are crappy pumps. You don't want a crappy one. If the bearing in the pump fails, so does your timing belt and thus your engine. You don't want any bent valves.

Go to www.metalmanparts.com and buy one of his 2.0 timing belt kits.

I'm not going to go into full detail here, there are probably some 2.0 timing belt how-to's out there. But basically you are just going to be pulling everything off that is in the way, draining the coolant, removing the serpentine belt and harmonic balancer (I would suggest getting new bolts for this too) removing the upper and lower timing belt covers, remove the body mount bolts, support the engine from above or below and take all the weight off the mount, remove the bolts that hold the engine bracket to the body mount, remove engine bracket from engine, make sure the engine is at TDC, make any necessary marks to ensure that the timing can be retained. Loosen the tensioner (you'll need a pin wrench), remove the belt, remove water pump and tensioner. Lube up the new o-ring on the water pump and install. Then put everything else back together.


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## litbug (Jan 10, 2004)

Get one of these Bentley Service Manual








It will pay for itself


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## raymondlee (Jun 8, 2008)

look for timing belt how to's


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## Shari (Jun 13, 2010)

Thanks, all. 

Found a water pump with metal propeller and got it instead. Also replaced timing belt & thermostat while at it... got the car all tore apart & put back together & she's running like a charm! Once I got under there it wasn't too bad of a task. (Except for the pin wrench... didn't have one of those, but father in law had something we made work.)

Thanks for the advice! Going to order the Bently manal now, so I have it ready for next time!


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## DSLBUG (Jun 19, 2008)

How about the tensioner? To not replace it is borrowing trouble. They usually fail before the next belt change, and your engine fails with it because valves get bent.

How about the motor mount bolts? If you reused those the bolts will snap off and your engine will drop to the ground. Not to mention the fact that putting used bolts back in usually wrecks the threads in the aluminum mount.


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