Dang.. water pump failure

[eatpasta]

I've heard of a few water pumps failing before the 130,000 mile timing belt interval. Volkswagen seems to have a problem with water pump longevity in general.

Mine failed at 60,200 miles - 200 miles out of warranty.

Neither the dealership or corporate would authorize a goodwill repair even after I had four months when I couldn't get tags for the car but was still paying for it.

The car goes back next week....

 

[BCPassat]

My 2013 Passat TDI is at 180,000km (108,000 miles), coolant light comes on every 3-400km (210 miles), refill and carry on.

I average 1-1,200km (600 miles) per week.

Timing belt and water pump not replaced yet, is the coolant leak most likely due to the water pump?

My plan is to keep the car as I do a large mileage, like everything about the car including handling, size, economy etc. I cannot find anything that is comparable on all levels, except an A8 or 7 series!!

Curious what others believe good value to be, but replacing the timing belt and water pump are the first two items outside of oil changes and filter changes. Still original brakes, tires due (use two sets).
To me, it is cheap driving.

 

[Lex Tdi]

My 2013 Passat TDI is at 180,000km (108,000 miles), coolant light comes on every 3-400km (210 miles), refill and carry on.
I average 1-1,200km (600 miles) per week.
Timing belt and water pump not replaced yet, is the coolant leak most likely due to the water pump?
My plan is to keep the car as I do a large mileage, like everything about the car including handling, size, economy etc. I cannot find anything that is comparable on all levels, except an A8 or 7 series!!
Curious what others believe good value to be, but replacing the timing belt and water pump are the first two items outside of oil changes and filter changes. Still original brakes, tires due (use two sets).
To me, it is cheap driving.

I'm crossing 100k, just got two new front tire from my goodwill money. If your driving that much you might just go ahead and replace the timing belt when you run that many miles a week it just moving ahead maintenance by a month or two, in the grand scheme of things that's quite minor and really good insurance on not having something else grenade on you.

That what has cracks me up about some of the ones here dogging the car, acting like an extra 30 or 40k bucks to get a better car is no big deal. When you drive a lot upgrading to an A8 or 7 series aint gonna happen! Give me a few grand and i'll happily keep moving on....

 

[VeeDubTDI]

My 2013 Passat TDI is at 180,000km (108,000 miles), coolant light comes on every 3-400km (210 miles), refill and carry on.
I average 1-1,200km (600 miles) per week.
Timing belt and water pump not replaced yet, is the coolant leak most likely due to the water pump?
My plan is to keep the car as I do a large mileage, like everything about the car including handling, size, economy etc. I cannot find anything that is comparable on all levels, except an A8 or 7 series!!
Curious what others believe good value to be, but replacing the timing belt and water pump are the first two items outside of oil changes and filter changes. Still original brakes, tires due (use two sets).
To me, it is cheap driving.

If it's leaking that much, you might want to give some serious consideration to fixing it. One gentleman here reports that his water pump seized and took out the top end of his engine. $$$$$

 

[jrm]

yeah, don't mess with a t belt driven pump it will lock up, cut the belt and waste your head and pistons in milliseconds

 

[jackcmorgan]

Lost my first at 74k. Blew the second one today, in spectacular fashion, at 140k. Effing buyback appointment is in 3 weeks.

But the good news is I did the last one (and the timing belt). Probably get it done in 2 hours or so. Already have a pump on the way. $70 on Amazon and next day shipping for $10.

Hi, did both of these leak when they failed? My car is overheating after driving it for about 15 minutes. The temp rises normally to 90C and stops there. About 5 - 10 minutes later (depending on speed) it starts to rapidly rise. I did suspect a thermostat, but if it was a thermostat i would think the temp would rise straight past 90 without stopping? The water pump is not leaking.

Waiting for the buyback here in Canada but it seems to be taking forever. How difficult was the belt / pump change? I looked it up in the service manual and they call for alot of specialty tools. I would say I'm at an advanced level in terms of auto repairs but have never attempted a timing belt / water pump change. Any DIYs around or tips for the install?

Thank you.

Jack

 

[jdyno718]

Just read these comments as my coolant light came on last night. Thankfully where I was eating also had an autoparts store in the parking lot. Walked over there and bought some G-12 coolant (Pentifrost SF).

I'm leaking like a sieve Coolant is leaking through the front center of the belly pan. From the top I can see fluid splashed on the belly pan between the radiator and the engine. Car has 109,xxx miles and this is the first issue I have had with it, bought it as a CPO with 35,858 miles. It appears as a new water pump and timing belt change are in order, based on previous comments. Hopefully I don't have issues driving the 30 miles to the shop.

EDITED: Not a water pump, I somehow cracked my oil filter housing...

 

[Ol'Rattler]

If your driving that much you might just go ahead and replace the timing belt when you run that many miles a week it just moving ahead maintenance by a month or two, in the grand scheme of things that's quite minor and really good insurance on not having something else grenade on you.

I would say if you are racking up the miles, if anything, you could probably extend the T/B interval some. When you reach the end of the interval and go past it some, there isn't a timer that is set to grenade your engine.

My exception would be because of the ridiculously high under hood temps on cars that do re-gens, I might do the T/B sooner. Oh wait. I would not own one of those terrible engineering fails.

Just a guess, but I suspect re-gens tend to make parts under the hood have shorter lives. With the non DPFs cars you almost never heard of alternators, turbos and water pumps failing before 100K miles. My alternator has 180K miles on it and will get new brushes/regulator this summer. The turbo just seems to keep chugging along..............

 

[Lex Tdi]

I would say if you are racking up the miles, if anything, you could probably extend the T/B interval some. When you reach the end of the interval and go past it some, there isn't a timer that is set to grenade your engine.

Nor was i trying to imply that there was... My point was that if one issue arises it makes sense to go ahead and fix everything. A leaking water pump is a problem and one that "could" do damage to other parts of your system, i suggested fixing it and everything surrounding it.

As for pushing the service interval, on my other cars which both went over 3-400,000 miles i dont really see the point of pushing another 10 or 20 thousand miles on the timing belt "just because i can." The cost of ownership on these things for people who rack up a lot of miles is greatly under any other option out there. Is saving an extra fraction of a cent per driving mile worth the risk of screwing your engine up and leaving you stranded on some highway?

 

[bustNfuel]

Looks like I dug up an old thread, but my issue is on topic.

Last week and about 50 miles ago I added distilled water to my coolant reservoir tank, which was just below the 'add/low' mark. Today while I was out running errands I noticed a whiff of antifreeze, but it typically has done that in the past after shutting it down after a drive, but no leaks ever found. Today the smell was much stronger.
After I arrived home, I found a large puddle on the garage floor, a mix of motor oil and orange antifreeze. Nothing visible topside while looking with a bright LED flashlight so I put it up on the lift and pulled the underbelly cover to see what I could find.
There are signs of residual wetness, both antifreeze and oil on the belly pan towards the right rear, which smells like antifreeze, and oil slinging from the large pulley on the bottom right of the engine, slinging all around from leaking while running. Not enough to get the accessory belt wet. The insulation around the oil pan is dry inside. There are no apparent coolant leaks anywhere, no wetness visible from the top or bottom.
Could the water pump be leaking both oil and antifreeze? Maybe I caught this early enough, as I have yet to see the 'low coolant' light come on, as I typically check under the hood often for fluid levels and potential leaks. Definitely no coolant leaking from around the plastic oil filter housing area, which I've found threads here stating that has been a rare cause to others.

I will be taking it in asap to get checked out, as I don't have a way to pressurize the cooling system myself. Or the tools and time to do a water pump change.

Thankfully I have an extended warranty that's still good for a couple years and several thousand miles. I bought my Passat Certified Pre-Owned with 37K miles and paid for the extended warranty.

 

[fredthe]

Could the water pump be leaking both oil and antifreeze?

I don't think the water pump would leak oil, I would suspect two issues.

Note the water pump is under the timing belt cover, the first signs of a leak (from my experience on a GSW) would be a small coolant drip at the bottom of the cover. I expect they will need to open that up to figure out what's happening, good that you've got the extended warranty but better to get it looked at ASAP.

 

[740GLE]

Only place else id look is the oil filter housing that has oil and coolant flowing through it, but that's front center on the CRKA so that wouldn't show up where you're seeing the dripping.

 

[Fixmy59bug]

if the warranty will be covering the water pump, there should be no additional (or VERY minimal) labor to change out the timing belt (and all associated idler pullies and tensionsers).

Since they have to take the belt off anyways, most of the labor should already be covered. Its bullsh*t double dipping if they charge you 6 hours of labor AND the extended warranty 6 hours of labor.

 

[bustNfuel]

Found a fairly large puddle of antifreeze a few days ago. Took some pics and a sample of the fluid in a shop syringe and dropped it off. Sure enough, even though it was 'pressure tested overnight, no leaks noted' 200 miles earlier, they now see that the water pump is leaking.

It only cost me the $100 deductible thanks to my extended warranty, now at 74K miles.


There is nothing on the work order about changing the timing belt or tensioner. I should have been adamant that they were changed! I assumed (foolishly) that they would do it all as I've read on other similar forum threads that VW shops would change at least the belt, as it would be compromised from the antifreeze that had leaked on it. Now the only way I can be sure it was changed (doubtful) is to look myself. I'd like to know so I can log it in my own personal service records.


As for the oil leak, which is more of a 'weep', and enough to sling and splatter oil around the area of the accessory belt and surroundings, was noted as 'not found'. Of course I know the oil isn't coming from the water pump..it's probably oil pooling up behind the timing cover, and mixing with the antifreeze that was coming from the water pump. Alas, that is more $$ for them at a later date obviously.

 

[gomesan]

My water pump also just failed at 60,000 miles. :/ The heater core was replaced about 10,000 miles ago which was nearly a year. I think the blocked heater core particles probably wore out the water pump seals but honestly I don't know much about engines so take w grain of salt.

It was a Certified Pre Owned but unfortunately 5 months out of warranty.
I barely drove the thing the past 2 years so sucks I didn't get more miles on it for that to happen sooner.

Local dealership quoted:
Timing Belt, Water Pump, Serpentine Belt: $1,685
CV boot torn: $582

Local shop:
Timing Belt, Water Pump, Serpentine Belt: $1,250
Cv Boot: $250

 

[Lex Tdi]

Water pump failure probably has more to do with it being 8-9 years old than it does about the mileage. Putting on a new timing belt and improved pump has you set up to go for quite awhile. Thankfully you've got some options on solid independent shops in a city of your size....