QuestionI am at 76,000 miles so have to have the timing belt replaced. The garage said most people have their water pump done at the same time. He couldn't tell me if the water pumps usually fail because they have always replaced them when doing the belt. He said it would cost another $136 for the pump if done with belt. If pump is done alone it would cost another $291 plus the $136. I don't know what to do since I don't know how long the pumps last in this car. Can you help? Thanks.
AnswerI've seen them fail with as little as 20,000 miles on the vehicle, and I've seen them last the life of the vehicle, so there's no way of knowing how long any one particular water pump will last.
In my opinion, the failures aren't all that common, so I think the decision lies mainly in the customer's preference. If you know the garage is installing a quality water pump, you're potentially preventing a problem down the road for minimal cost. On the other hand, it's reasonably likely the water pump won't fail in the near future (unless it's already seeping or leaking). I typically pose the question like this: Would you rather have extra insurance you won't have a problem, or are you trying to save money now, knowing it has the potential of costing you more in the long run?
An additional point to ponder: if you're the original owner of the car, the water pump is covered for 10 years/100,000 miles under the powertrain warranty. So in this case, you still have a couple years (more or less) of warranty coverage on the pump. If it fails within the warranty period, the dealer will replace the pump for free.
