Okay guys Before i did this myself i searched everywhere looking for a write-up on changing our SE water pumps on our 00+ cars and although I found Similar ones using Grand Prix and Buicks it is not completly identical so i decided to attempt my first write-up lol.

First things first
DISCLAMIER

Liability Statement:
Perform this task at your own risk! Neither the author nor anyone associated with this article
accept ANY liability if you damage your car, hurt yourself, or otherwise screw something up!
This is a guideline designed to help you perform the task described herein, therefore the risk is
yours and so is the responsibility.

This is how I did it. Not how you have to do it but it may come in handy

Ok so most of the stuff i read says to jack the car up, I did not do this.
most write up's also suggest draining the radiator fluid from the Peacock valve i also did not do this, instead i placed a oil pan under the location of the water pump and let the fluid drain there.

Tools I Used
- 15mm socket
- 13mm socket
- 3/8 socket
- 3/8 ratchet
- 3" Extension
- 3/8 torque ratchet
- 8mm Wrench
- razor blade (Box cutter style)
- small wire brush

STEPS

First thing you do is locate the 4 8mm bolts on the water pump (shown in picture below)

using an 8mm wrench loosen them counter clockwise (twoard fire wall), i did two full revolatins to insure they were loose.
Do NOT completely remove


Second remove the serpentine belt (no photo)
using a 15mm socket locate the belt tensioner located just below the alternator, attach 15mm socket and turn counter clockwise (twoard fire wall) to release tension and remove belt.

Next you want to remove the pully completly simply hand turning the bolts while holding the pully in place should do the trick.

Next we will remove the water pump, locate the 7 visable bolts (show in picture below)


And the 8th hidden bolt just below the water pump (pictured below)


I started with removing the smaller bolts first as i wanted to leave the pressure for the larger bolts to carry, to remove the smaller bolts use your 3/8 socket (this is the best fit for the bolt)
After sucessfully removing all 4 smaller bolts its time to move onto the larger 13mm bolts,
*Warning* Coolant can burn the skin if the engine is not at a cool tempature
while removing the 13mm bolts you may have some coolant coming out i did as this is the way i allowed mine to drain, make sure to have a catch pan directly under that portion of the vehicle to catch the antifreeze from the water pump.

Side by side, old pump Right, New pump Left


After removing the old pump you will need to remove any excess gasket left from the old water pump


I used the box cutter razor and the wire brush to remove as much gasket material as I possibly could


*Some people use gasket maker to hold new gasket in place i chose not to. I placed the new gaskets on the pegs to hold the new gasket in place.*

place the new water pump on and begin reinsatlling screws, i chose to start with the larger bolts as they hold more weight, i started by only hand tightening until i placed all 8 bolts back into the waterpump to make sure the gasket lined up on all 8 holes

Using my Handy Torque Wrench I torqued all of the Larger (13mm bolts) to 22ft lbs
and the smaller (3/8 bolts) to 11ft lbs


I chose to work the bolts in a pattern as i torqued them down i went largest to smallest in a x style starting with the farthest large bolt closes to the radiator then the closet to the firewall followed by the two inner bolts going right to left.
I then started with the top smallest bolt, followed by the bottom hidden bolt and then right to left again on the remander two.

After that you can fight with the pully to place it back on, honestly the most annoying part of the whole change i took a bolt and slid it through the pully and the spacer and the carefully attached it to the waterpump, this is the more annoying part beacuse the gold spacer is not held on by anything.

tighten up the four 8mm first by hand and then with the wrench.

Reapply serpentine belt (Diagram below)


Run car with Radiator cap off allowing system to burp air pockets from removing water pump
continue to add antifreeze until bubbles stop.

Congratulations you just changed your water pump

_________________
Member #3848
2002 Black Bonneville SE Sold But Not Forgotten
2002 White Bonneville SSEi Project car

Looks great!!!! Now I have an easy source, just in case my water pump goes bad.

_________________

'02 Pontiac Bonneville SE 108,539 miles, N/A, SSEi exhaust system, boat roller mount. Gone, but not forgotten.
'13 Buick Regal GS 102k miles, 270 hp, 295 lb/ft, ZZP intake.
(yes, there is a story behind my avatar.)

Really nice write up. I'd also encourage to shop-vac any pieces of gasket that are bladed off in the event they fall into the valleys of the coolant.

Also, it's totally user preference as you mentioned, but I prefer to throw on a light coat of water pump/thermostat gasket maker on both sides of the gasket to ensure solid seal in case of leftover gasket/pittings/scratches etc - but I'm a bit OCD!

Thanks for this write up as it helped me prepare for the repair today!