Meziere elecric water pump

[mot250]

Before I begin, two tips that will come in handy any time you need to work on the Mustang wit hthe battery disconnected...

Put the door windows down a little and disconnect the negative battery cable before trying to tap into the main power to the fuse-box. Put the windows down slightly allows you to open the doors while the power is cut and close them again without man-handling the windows. Remember, our Mustangs have that "window-drop" feature. If the windows are all the way up and there is no power, the doors do not want to close all the way on their own and you'll need to force the windows into the door opening.

Also (OK, two more tips...), use one of those 9-volt memory savers plugged into the 12 volt DC power plug inside the car before disconnecting the battery otherwise you lose all of the clock/radio presets.

Now onto the pump intstall...

You can drain the radiator or not. I could not see the drain valve from up top so I didn't. Either way, be prepared for a gush of coolant when you remove the stock pump. 1 gallon or so (from what I read) if you drean the radiator first. Much more if you don't drain the radiator. Keep your pets away!

Remove/temporarily relocate the intake tubing (stock or CAI).

Unbolt the coolant tank and relocate it out of the way (do not disconect hoses to the tank)

Before removing the belt, unbolt the pulley on the water pump. The belt's own tension will help hold the pully from spinning while you loosen the pulley bolts but may will still need to add more pressure to the pulley with your free hand to keep it from spinning. Do not completely remove the bolts yet, just loosen them.

Make a diagram of the belt routing since Ford, in its ultimate wisdom, did not include a belt diagram in the engine compartment nor in the owner's manual. I guess us common-folk are not suposed to touch that stuff.

Note the postition of the tensioner before removing the belt. The yellow section you can use as a position indicatir. The green section will slide around and eventually bottom out on the red sruface.

I also added pictures of the stock water pump (cast) and steel impeller compared to the impeller of the Meziere pump (cast impeller and black steel housing).

[mot250]

Use a 1/2 inch drive socket wrench or breaker bar to release tension on the tensioner pulley and remove the belt. If you are still using stock pulleys for the crank and water pump, you should be able to re-use the original belt.

Prior to this install, I had converted to Steeda UDPs (crank and water pump pulleys) which are sized such that you re-use the stock belt. The Meziere electric water pump will replace the Steeda water pump pulley. The Meziere pump pulley is the same size as the stock water pump pulley so you will now run into issues if you intend to retain the Steeda UD crank pulley as I did. The stock belt is 102 1/8th inches. I tried 1 inch shorter, then 2 inches shorter and finally settled on a 99 inch belt as suggested by others on other forums (99 1/2 might also work). FYI...The belt width is 13/16ths.

Back to "how to..."

Remove the water pump pulley to access the pump retaining bolts (10MM socket). The bottom water pump bolt is hard to see.

Set aside the pulley, pulley bolts and water pump bolts as they will not be re-used.

Apply pressure up, down, and side to side to loosen the pump from the front of the engine. Be prepared for a gush of coolant when it comes loose. Use a prybar with light pressure if it won't budge. I've got 27,000 miles on my 2006 Mustang GT and I was able to wiggle it out by hand.

Set aside the stock pump.

While the coolant dribbles to a stop, lube the oring on the Meziere pump with silicone grease (di-electric grease will work). Also, note the position of the bolt pattern so you have the Meziere pump clocked correctly when ready to pop it in.

Wipe excess coolant and any grit from the mounting and o-ring surfaces.

Begin installing the electric pump into the block, lining up the bolt hoes. Be carefull not to pinch the o-ring. You could cut it, which will cause a leak later down the road.

Use the supplied stainess steel allen bolts and washers to mount the pump. Start the top ones in first, then the left side and lastly the bottom bolt. You'll be doing the bottom bolt blind so I hope your finger dexterity is in good order. I used some antisieze on the SS bolts as a precaution for later removal some day in the future.

The allen bolts will require a ball-ended 6mm allen wrench as you can not get a straight-on shot without the ball-end. The Meziere pulley is not removable to make it eazier on us for installing it.

Draw the pump all the way to the block by alternating the tightening sequence of the 4 pump bolts then turn then in all the way makinf sure it is square to the block. It's hard to torque them using an allen wrench so just take them in as tight as you can.

Route the wires from the pump out of the way of the belt and pulleys.

Replace the belt as per your diagram and note the position of the tensioner. It should not be resting all the way closed (as when no belt is installed). It should be somewhere in the 4-O'clock range. If not, try a different belt length from your favorite local auto parts store.

Recheck the routing of the wires from the pump.

Reposition the coolant tank and CAI or stock intake.

Begin refilling with coolant.

I'll get to the rest of the wiring with an update when I am done.

[mot250]

OK. Finished it up. I ended up wiring it to a fuse in the engine compartment fuse box becuase I got tired of looking for a way through the firewall.

The pump has two wires coming from it, power (blue) and ground. It includes a nice weather proof plug so you can disconnect the pump without removing all of the wiring. I ran them up between the water pump and the alternator to the passenger side of the engine, then over the valve cover and mid way back toward the strut tower.

I also got the suggested relay/wiring kit. It included 4 wires.
1-Hot (orange): to 12 volt source (battery pos/alternator out or main fuse box positive). I chose the main fuse box positive because of its location. It is secured under the red plastic cover in the pictures below.

2-Ground: I wired this relay ground and the pump ground to the factory ground strap on the tab at the top of the passenger side strut tower.

3-hot to pump(blue). I ran this along fender well toward the strut tower, near the ground wires and then over to pump wiring and spliced it into the pump's two wore harness.

4-hot to switched source (green): I ended up running this to a fuse slot in the main box in the engine compartment, fuse #42 (Engine #3). Others have used fuse #'s 40(engine #2). 40 is only live when the engine is running. 42 is live when the key is in the "on" position. See pictures below. I eventually plan to go back and wire in a rocker switch so I can also run the pump without the key-on.

I tucked everything into 3/8th black split-loom and used a short section of 1/2 inch split-loom for the wires right off the relay. I bolted the relay to one of the existing bolts that secure the fuse box to the inner fender area (see picture on the left below). So no hole and the split loom make it look like everything is supposed to be there.

[mot250]

After it's first heat cycle, I had to add another quart or so of 50/50 antifreez mix to top of the overflow tank.

No problems with coolant temperature on my 1 hour drive to work this morning in traffic. No leaks, no hiccups.

Needle seemed to be at the normal position, same as it was before the swap. I know, we can't necessarily trust the factory gauge in our Mustangs to any type of accuracy but that's all I have to go on.


After driving it for a week, here are my observations:

Gas mileage...too soon to tell. I've been tipping into the throttle more than normal just to test out the acceleration as evidenced by my next comments.

Before adding the E-H2O pump, I would be able to chirp second on the street at will. On the 1/4 miletrack, I could get it to chirp in 3rd as well (and feel the car skip sideways a hair). After installing the Meziere pump, I can now grab the third gear chirp on the street at will. I have not had it to the track yet.

My second gear chirp is now more like a rrrriiipp rather than a quick chirp.

No issues with overheating

In short. I likeyhttp://www.nextgenmusclecars.com/forums/images/smilies/023.gifhttp://www.nextgenmusclecars.com/forums/images/smilies/023.gif

OK, yet another update:

I've read a lot about concerns the Meziere pump draws too much power, especially if it is wired to run with the engine off. Well, at the Autocross event I went to at the Tire Rack in Indiana last Saturday, I left my car to work the corners for one of the sessions and I accidentally I walked away from my car and I left the key in the ignition "on" to keep the pump running to help cool it down. I also left the interior heater fan running on high to act as the radiator to dissipate heat. I left the pump and fan running for at least 20 to 25 minutes.

When I returned, both the pump and fan were still running and the car started right up. No problems!