Ballpark, how much would I be looking at to have a mechanic change a water pump on a 97 Dodge Ram 1500? I have no idea what would be reasonable since I usually do my own repairs, but I can’t get the nut on the fan pulley to budge despite my best efforts. I figured that rather than having a stroke trying to do it myself, I’d just bring it in and save the tears.
Water pumps are normally not changed out on a schedule, unless they are driven by the timing belt such as is the case with many Japanese and some German engines. When changing the timimg belt on those cars, it makes sense to change the water pump as well.
If you have a V8 with a chain driven camshaft, ignore the water pump until it starts leaking or making noise. On a GM V8 that is about 200,000 miles or so. Yours may go a lot longer time before that happens.