*Thanks RailHomie and Ahriman for your contributions.

Supplies:

Obviously, a new intercooler pump. The pump is produced by Bosch and was used in Ford Cobras and Lightnings, I found mine on eBay for ~$100 shipped


Tools: There are many ways to go about this install, but these are the tools that I used from top down/left to right.

• Socket Wrench with extension and knuckle; 13mm OR [(not shown)3/8" drive ratchet with only a 13mm socket]
• Vice grip
• Wrench
• Two modified vice grips (see below) OR [(not shown) a hose clamp tool, see post 6]
• Needle nose pliers
• 13 mm wrench

NOT shown:

• Car Jack
• Stand
• Bucket/cup
• Razor/sharp knife (may or may not be needed)
• Dexcool antifreeze/ water 50/50 mix

The modified vice grips have pieces of rubber hose slid over both ends. These are used to clamp the intercooler fluid hoses and the added rubber hose protects from damage with the clamp.


1.Jack up the car on the right side near the front and use a jack stand to support the car. Never rely on a jack alone to hold the car!



In the middle of the car on the underside just behind the radiator and heat exchanger, you'll find the old pump held by a bracket.


2. Disconnect the wire connector from the right side of the pump.



(These pictures are taken laying down with the bottom of the picture being towards the front of the car and the top being towards the back)

3. Take out the bolts

Using the a 13mm wrench, loosen the bottom bolt holding the bracket in place.


The second bolt is above the pump, and can therefore not be seen in the picture. To remove this bolt, either

1. use the 13mm socket wrench with extender and knuckle. The extender adds length to the wrench and the knuckle allows the end to angle and meet the bolt. Here it shows this being used going around the frame to reach the bolt

or 2.

The pump is now free except for the hoses


This is the piece of the bracket that was removed to free the pump. It has a rubber ring on it that encircles the pump.


4. Clamp the hoses

There are two hoses (in and out) that need to be clamped so fluid won't drain once the pump is removed. Either,

1.Use the modified vice grips to pinch off the hoses as far away from the pump as you can, you'll need the extra space.

or 2. use the hose clamp tool if you decided to use one


5. Remove the metal ring clamps around the hose and the pump inlet/outlets.

This takes some ingenuity, and there are some decisions to make so read ahead for this step. Space is tight, so try to use the sliding wrench, needle nose pliers, unmodified vice grip (whichever works best) to get a hold of the clamp and push the two pieces together. Try to wiggle the metal clamps up hose away from the pump. You may even want to try a flathead screw driver to help pry/push the hose off.

When you get either hose off some coolant will come out of the hoses and pump! Antifreeze is very dangerous so watch your mouth (as in getting any in it) when doing this! If you can try to have the bucket ready to catch the fluid.

Someone at GM decided it would be smart to glue the clamps to the outside of the hose with adhesive that holds tiles on space shuttles. As you can see, I got the clamp off but the end of the hose was slightly damaged. I had to cut straight both hoses just under the damage with a razor (you have enough hose to work with, don't worry).


It was hard to remove the clamps glued to the hose so if yours doesn't slide up easy, you may want to go ahead and cut the hose above the metal ring clamps, remove them from the ends, and slide them on the fresh ends.

The pump is now off




6. Install new pump

Reverse the uninstall process on this one.

• Reattach hoses to correct nozzles on pump
• Slide clamps back down over hose/ pump ends
• Remove vice grip clamps
• Situate pump and use bracket to secure
• Read next step for wires

7.Reattach the wires to your pump

Do research on the TSB about the pump wires being reversed. There is a great thread about this that was started by Amishland (Intercooler Wiring Reversed!! TSB# 05-06-02-003). Basically, on all 04's and some 05's the wires were reversed from the factory. The positive (all black) wire was connected to the negative terminal on the pump and the negative (black and white) to the positive. The pump terminals are indicated on the pump housing

I had mine fixed by a dealer but by all means makes sure yours are correct. This is probably the reason you just replaced your pump!



After you are sure that your wires are correct, reattach the wiring harness.

8. Lower your car and watch in amazement the movement in the filler neck! The pump starts 10 seconds after you start your car (as in crank and engine running, the key simply in the "run" position does not work).

Because you were probably low on the 50/50 mix of dexcool water mix (the high temps evaporated some liquid), you may need to add some and there may be some air in your system.

I let my car run for about ten minutes and slowly added nearly a pint over a few courses of letting the fluid level lower after adding some. You may need to do this for several days after trips to get all of the bubbles out. Also, you may decide to try using the bleeder bolt on the stock heat exchanger...

Wish I had this how-to when I did this a week ago!

I was able to use a 3/8" drive ratchet with only a 13mm socket on it to get to the top pump mount bolt by sliding it between the mount and the frame.

I didn't take any of the hose clamps off, but I did end up taking the upper hose (the one that's impossible to get to on the pump) off at the intake manifold and pulled the pump and hose out, then took it off, reattached it to the new one and fed it back up to the manifold.

Also, there is a bleeder bolt on top of the intercooler that you can loosen if you take off the passenger side headlight. I did that and it took me maybe that ten minutes to fill and get the bubbles out, and that was after draining the entire system (a week later, the level is still correct). I added a bit of RedLine Water Wetter to it too.

You have to have the car running for the pump to start too, putting the key in the run position will not work.

I was prewarned of most of these things by searching the forum, it's great to be here!
NCState, feel free to add any of this to the how-to if you'd like. I don't mean to steal your thunder!

nice how to... but you dont have to take the top pump bracket bolt out. you only need to loosen it enough for the pump to slide out of the bracket, no need to take the bracket completely off.

and if you want this to be a really easy job, get yourself one of those hose-clamp tools... then all you have to do is: a)unplug the pump, b)use the tool to remove the hose clamps from the pump, and let it drain, c)loosen the bracket bolts and slide the pump out.

alot of people on this forum have over complicated this job, with the right tools it can be done in less than 30 min. only tools needed are a hose clamp tool and a 13mm wrench/socket.

Sure, it's not complicated, but it's good to learn absolutely everything you can about it before taking your car apart, mostly if it's a daily driver like mine.
I didn't take the top bolt out either, but it would've been much easier if I had. The pump doesn't want to just "slide out" as it hits the transmission mount (I think that's what it was) and has to be finagled around a lot for it to come out.
The biggest part for me was just getting the hoses off, took me a bit to think of using vise grips, they saved me.

agreed, hardest part is the hose clamps... which is where that hose clamp tool comes in handy. seriously that thing is amazing, and the only reason i purchased one is b/c i got pissed at the hose clamps on this damn pump LOL... however i have used it tons of times since then on other jobs, and it really is one of the greatest tools ever invented imo.

Yeah, I can't even describe how pissed I got at those clamps before I found the vise grips, haha. I might look into that tool though.

this tool right here seriously saves me so much frustration when it comes to clamps.

I looked for the bleeder bolt but couldn't find it on mine, I'll try again.

I also wrote that you had to start the car for the pump to come on but I'll add that the run position does not work (thanks to that thread a couple of days ago...)

And thanks to both of you Railhomie and Ahriman, for your additions. I'll add them when I have a chance (before the end of the day). I was worried when I wrote this thread about including the many different ways you can go about this for getting people confused, so I stuck to how I did it. I think the vice grips were a nice common alternative to having to buy the specialty hose clamp tool and make it straight forward but I'll add it in.

I didn't think it was perfect, but it was definitely a step in the right direction for people. If anyone has anything else to add please, do so.

Yeah, I saw the bleeder bolt thing in an old thread. Take off the pass. headlight and find the top of the intercooler (heat exchanger), the one behind the A/C condenser, I think. There's a smallish (10mm?) aluminum plug sticking out of the top of the HE, you can't miss it. I ran the pump with that plug almost falling out and it bubbled and weeped alittle, so you have to watch it, but fill it until it starts coming out. Also, be careful putting it back in, it'll strip really easily since it's aluminum, and you want it to seal!

Good how-to though, I wanted to do it but I didn't take any pictures, so you get the prize, hah.

Hmm, that could make a nice how-to by itself. Maybe if the weather is good tomorrow I'll snap some pictures... unless you call dibs