When I have Driving Belt replaced, should all belts and water pump be replaces as well?
My local mechanic suggests replacing everything, but Hyundai Dealership says not necessary.
Do you mean Timing Belt??
There are drive belts…and timing belts. The drive belts are the belts that run the AC, Power Steering…The timing belt is special belt that moves the cam in a timed manner related to the Crank.
If you’re replacing the timing belt then the drive belts SHOULD be replaced. The most expensive part in replacing the drive belts is labor. They MUST be removed to replace the timing belt, so as long as they’re being removed you might as well replace them.
Usually it is a good idea. Far too many people replace there TIMING belt and six months later they end up paying the mechanic to take it apart again, this time for the water pump or the serpentine belt.
What year is the car?
How many miles does it have on it?
It would be just plain silly to put the old drive belts back on, but with the water pump it really depends. Many folks replace them with every timing belt change, many do it every second change. The ones that have problems are the ones that never bother to change the water pump and keep their vehicles long term. In those cases the pump will eventually fail, and when it does it’ll take the timing belt with it. If it has an interference engine it may take the engine too.
Speaking of failing water pumps, are there any symptoms before one fails or does it just die and you’re out of luck?
I recently had my timing belt changed and was told that the water pump was fine and didn’t need to be replaced.
Usually a failing water pump will begin to squeal as the bearing starts to wear out. Some pumps have a wheep hole where they will begin to drip coolant once they’re on the way out. If your mechanic said the pump was good, he most likely looked at the pumps internals and they were not corroded or sludged up you should be ok for quite some time, as long as you keep cooling system maintnance up. Belt tension should be kept within specs if you have an older vehicle that uses the power steering or a/c pump as the tensioner.
Thanks for your response. It was basically what I needed to know.
My car is a 2003 Hyundai Tiburon with 64,000 miles.