billthe3

Went to the local shop today to get an appt to do the timing belts and a couple other things, and the guy was wondering if the car has had the water pump replaced yet. He didn't give me a quote on the belts because he's not sure if the rollers need replacing and whatnot, but also because he hadn't done a timing belt job without replacing the water pump at the same time.

Anyway, the car has ~83k mi on it and from what I can tell in the records is still using the original water pump (I've emailed the PO to check). Should I get a new water pump while they're in there or do they usually last a while?

The car has been running rather hot recently, but I'm hoping that a coolant flush will get rid of that problem - from the records it looks like the last time that was done was in 1990. Could this be a sign that the pump may be going out? Or does the pump just go kaput and not slowly die?

TIA for any info.

Lorax

Dude, replace it. id say its coming to the end of its like, and wouldnt risk another 30k on it.

billthe3

Yeah, thats what I'm leaning to, just wanted to see what other people thought.

968rz

Replace it. It's about time and if it goes it could cause the t-belt to fail, causing the vales to bend, causing your wallet to get alot thinner.

Chris_924s

No question. Replace it. The belts are the difficult part ot the WP swap-

993944S2

Replace it.

ibkevin

Look at it this way, you can pay the labor once... or twice!

tifosiman

No brainer. The majority of the labor is in the belts and the other stuff. Changing the water pump at that time only adds the expense of the part and maybe a minute amount of labor cost. It would be unfortunate to do the belts now, then have to do the job again later if the pump starts leaking (or worst-case, locks up).

SamGrant951

I would need to double check my records but my WP let go at 86k miles, very sure it was original. No question change it, that was $$$.

Tom R.

make sure you get a new not remanufactured one. my wrench does not use two things remanufactured, one is water pumps.

tifosiman

OK, you know I have to ask.............................................................what's the other thing? Starters?

Tom R.

i am pretty sure it is starters. know it isnt alternators so yep starters.

the chances of getting a bad one are too high and he doesnt feel like doing the work twice, the second time on his dime so he says new or go somewhere else.

jeeper31

I got a bad one which led me to believe that my intermittent starting problem wasn't the starter which led me to disconnect the grounds which enticed me to start the car which led me to believe I had no fuel which enabled me to rip the nut off the fuel rail trying to check pressure which led me to buying a new fuel rail which led me to send my injectors out to get cleaned which led me to realize when all was reassembled that I blew my DME which led me to get a new one and install it which led me back to the fact that it was the f@cking rebuilt starter that was bad in the fiirst place which led me to where I got it to get it rebuilt AGAIN for free which led me to realize that I spent about $800 unecessarily instead of checking the starter in the first place.

Stan944

It's certainly good to replace the water pump, but don't get fooled that it's almost no extra work, and the shop most likely will charge you extra. One needs to remove the rear belt cover, and all rollers first. And some of the rollers are quite hard to remove. And then why not to change all front seals?
In a nutshell, replacing the belts is a small job in my opinion, but the other stuff mentioned above doubles (or more) the amount of labour.
But if you have money - do it.

F18Rep

Bill...I'm finding out there a few cars out there that still have the old (not updated) water pump. And that includes an 86 951 like yours. You might want to make sure the shop knows to replace with the updated version. Just a thought...bruce