Water Pump/Thermostat Housing without Removing Intake Manifold

[wakeupmrchen]

Does anyone have a guide for this or done this before? I'd rather not remove the intake manifold as I have no need to walnut blast with a port injection model.

Have watched both the FCP Euro and ShopDAP but they both remove their intake manifolds. In the comments of both are people saying they were able to access the water pump by removing the throttle body, and the cooling fans.

The only video where the intake manifold remains on I've found is this:

And is replacing the belt necessary? Will definitely be replacing the union as well.

Will be sourcing the unit from RockAuto: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=11191109&cc=0&pt=2208&jsn=3746

 

[jay745]

I've done it both ways. If you leave the manifold on you're going blind for a few of the bolts and getting the belt off is much more difficult by comparison but it's doable.

 

[victorofhavoc]

I did it without pulling the manifold, but putting it back together I chose to just remove the manifold. It's not that bad to remove and it frees up quite a bit of room to get to some of the blind bolts. Get a radiator hose pick set and a light up mirror on a stick at a minimum. Hose clamp pliers are also pretty handy for this job.

 

[YamR1rider]

Unless you've got a lift and can get the car well in the air with lots of working space, removing the manifold is really the way to go. It's really not hard to remove either, just be very careful with the multiple electrical connectors. Taking off the manifold gives you more working room from the top and ability to see what you are doing and give everything especially the pump mating services a really good cleanup before installing the new one. The most useful video I found for removing the manifold without adding lots of other unnecessary steps was this one

 

[Daks]

Remove the manifold.

 

[AdamSheikh]

Humble Mechanic put out a new video for Mk7 water pump work. Just take the manifold off to be thorough. Worth a watch: