Water pump replacement?

My question goes out to all the high mileage cars out there. Has anyone had a water pump failure? My reason for asking is I am getting ready to change my timing belt and while I am in there I am wondering if I should change my pump and tensioner also? My car prior to the jetta (Dodge Intrepid) I changed just the belt because everything else seemed fine, only to have the water pump go out 5000 miles later and the tensioner to break after that. If I had just changed them all at once I would have saved me alot of time.

From other posts throughout Fred's page, it seems the general consensus on the water pump replacement at TB change is to do it while you're there, rather than have a failure shortly thereafter. But you already have learned this .
I did my first timing belt before I even found this forum. I'll be changing a few of my methods as well, thanks to the knowledge provided here.

Well the conventional wisdom is to always always replace the timing belt tensioner. Of course you are going to put in the 80,000 mile belt, n'est-ce pas?

The water pump is more problematic, if it shows any sign of weeping, replace it!!

When dealer did the timing belt they say the water pump was leaking so they replaced it under warranty.

I would replace it.

I did B4 t-belt w/o water pump change. 2 months later I did pump, then I did it again 3 months later!

It's up to you if you want to replace the water pump or not. I didn't replace my water pump at 59k miles. I'm just praying that my water pump will last until the new timing belt change at 140k miles.

I had new waterpump done at 62K- was $121 at dealer- no additional labor to install- $5 for coolant- was glad I had it done.

How much is waterpump job??

I hear/see cars with bad serpentine belt/timing belt tensioner pulleys- makes car sound really bad!

The timing belt on the A4 99.5+ cars is driven off the timing belt and should be changed at the second belt change. I wouldnt change it at 40. 60, or 80k. It should easily last until the second belt change.

Car 54 Ithink you ment the water pump is driven by the TB .Please correct your post.
Just my .02 cts. Canadian that is.
Tony

When I replaced BamaTDI's timming belt at ~55,000 miles I found his water pumping showing signs of total failure in the very near future. Bama had brought a new one so it was replaced.

The idler pulley that is right next to the water pump was showing signs of coolant leaks and the sprocket on the pump was tight and notchy feeling. The pump also made a squelling noise when rotated by hand.

I will be replacing mine when I do my 2nd belt change at 100K miles (first belt done at 40K) I will then plan to replace it every 80K miles. At this point I believe my pump is starting to fail.

osidak

Originally posted by davidbru:
My question still remains? How many people have had water pump failures?...

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Mine failed at 52k miles. Bearings were scattered about, and I was lucky not to have had a catastrophic situation. (TB break or skip a tooth, ruin the head, etc...)

My advice is to change the pump and tensioner at every TB change without a doubt. (This is an absolute NO BRAINER when installing the 80k belt...) It's not worth the risk and / or hassle of having to deal with it after the fact.

REPLACE IT! 1. It's a pain in the arse to do it again soon after your TB change. 2. There are LOTS of reports of these TB driven pumps leaking or completely failing at or before the FIRST TB change.

The TB has much more tension on it than did the old accessory belt driven pump, and the bearings on those had trouble lasting 120k miles. Now that more and more of these cars are getting to the 60-80k mark, I think you're going to hear it recommended to do the water pump at every TB change.

My question still remains? How many people have had water pump failures? I am just trying to find out if there is a common failure time, say 100000 or whatever. So you guys (or girls--must stay politically correct) with high miles, have you had a failure or was it changed with TB.

Thanks to all who responded! I was definetly leaning toward replacing it anyhow after the Intrepid incident, and I didn't realize so many people were changing it out of necessity Since I will be going with a 80k belt I will add it to the parts I need to order. Why doesn't someone offer a complete "package deal" including the water pump, belts, bolts, gaskets, and seal? That would make life real easy when ordering.

96 passat TDI failed water pump 59K, second 59.2K

95 passat VR6 failed water pump 49K (replaced under warranty).

95 passat vr6 failed water pump 101K (doing next weekend)

Hey redtdi96, did all of those cars have the old green coolant, or the blue G11 on board? Reports have the new pink G12 being much easier on the water pump. Might want to look into switching, though you'll need to do a very thorough flush.

G12 coolant - hit 130,000 miles saturday night pullin in at home.

original waterpump (knockin on wood)

plan to change it at 150k

rumors from the dealers and techs are that they last about 150k.

with the 100k mile Timing belt (same as the 80k - which is acutally a 100k - yeah both auto/5sp) the pump should maybe be changed at each timing belt interval.

I'm doing mine at 150, belt at 200 (no i'm not changin the belt at the same time 50k early) belt and pump at 300 . . . belt at 400 pump at 450 belt at 500 pump and belt at 600 . . . . that kinda pattern (unless something happens- knockin on wood) - but thats the plan

My question goes out to all the high mileage cars out there. Has anyone had a water pump failure?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I wouldn't exactly call it high-mileage, and it's Seoul Scrap Metal instead of VW, but I had my second timing belt change (8 years - interval is 4 years/96,000 km) in spring last year (roughly 100,000 km), and the water pump failed this spring. On this engine, the water pump is driven by the alternator belt, but to replace it you still need to remove the same stuff as for the TB.

Originally posted by rwolff:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">
My question goes out to all the high mileage cars out there. Has anyone had a water pump failure?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I wouldn't exactly call it high-mileage, and it's Seoul Scrap Metal instead of VW, but I had my second timing belt change (8 years - interval is 4 years/96,000 km) in spring last year (roughly 100,000 km), and the water pump failed this spring. On this engine, the water pump is driven by the alternator belt, but to replace it you still need to remove the same stuff as for the TB.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'll assume it is Korean? Hyundai? Change it at timing belt time, they fail often enough that it would be good measure. The timing belts can be stretched for longer than 60k, though.

The OE water pump on my 1987 Mazda pickup started leaking this week, one week after turning 400k miles!

davidbru:

Your question should be posed to A4/ALH engine owners only as the design an quality of the pump is different than any pump VW has produced before. Also, the tension of the belt on the ALH water pump is pretty tightly controlled by an automatic tensioner whereas the other pumps allow for the mechanic to set their own idea of "correct" tension on the belt. My guess is that the failure rate for the ALH pump is very low and I have sold very few but 140-160k will be a long time for the pump so a good inspection is a good idea or just replace it if you are going to worry about it. I could add a factory remanufacured pump to my timing belt kit but that would make the cost climb by $140 with the associated core charge. I've sold quite a few belt kits and very few pumps so you won't be alone if you decide to run the pump another 80k.

Jim
dieselgeek.com

davidbru:

Your question should be posed to A4/ALH engine owners only as the design and quality of the pump is different than any pump VW has produced before. The engineers knew what was at stake with this pump. Also, the tension of the belt on the ALH water pump is pretty tightly controlled by an automatic tensioner whereas the other pumps allow for the mechanic to set their own idea of "correct" tension on the belt. My guess is that the failure rate for the ALH pump is very low and I have sold very few but 140-160k will be a long time for the pump so a good inspection is a good idea or just replace it if you are going to worry about it. I could add a factory remanufacured pump to my timing belt kit but that would make the cost climb by $140 with the associated core charge. I've sold quite a few belt kits and very few pumps so you won't be alone if you decide to run the pump another 80k.

Jim
dieselgeek.com

Just a note. Replaced the water pump on my 99.5 Jetta last week during the timing belt replacement. The water pump was fine but probably would not last another TB change. I got 191,000 miles from the first water pump.