I would replace everything if you have the money now. Most of the time, since they have to remove these parts anyway, they won’t charge any additional labor. This means that you’ll save yourself some money in the long run. Plus if they break within thier own warranty periods, that will save any costs down the road. For now, your best bet is to change everything at once.
Alfred E Neuman (just joking) Your age is showing. On almost each and every front wheel drive horizontally mounted engine the water pump is ‘hidden’ in the timing belt. The days of the old fore and aft engines in small cars is pretty much gone.
The bigger rear wheel drive cars are mostly exterior mounted, driven either off a belt or by an internal shaft.
“On almost each and every front wheel drive horizontally mounted engine the water pump is ‘hidden’ in the timing belt”
Not true. It is becoming more common, but it is still not universal. Almost all of the early transverse FWD cars had the water pump driven by the serpentine belt.
This is my opinion. One of the reasons we pay more for a Toyota or Honda, is many of the parts, such as alternator or water pump, are the quality equivalent of “lifetime guarantee” parts. Toyota recommends inspecting the water pump to see if it needs replacing, and they have based this on actual experience over the years. Right away, folks start telling their experiences with makes which do not make parts so well, thus are cheaper to buy, and do not last so long. And, conclude that inspecting accomplishes nothing. Funny. I also believe on the other cheaper models one should replace the water pump every time you replace the timing belt.
One of the reasons we pay more for a Toyota or Honda, is many of the parts, such as alternator or water pump, art the quality equivalent of “lifetime guarantee” parts.
In 23 years and 517K miles on my '88 Escort I’ve worn out the original water pump and a “lifetime warranty” water pump and am on my second lifetime pump. I use to skip water pump replacement on it, but after having to do the work a second time, because of a failed water pump I’ve discontinued this practice and this is a non interference engine. My “cheaper” car still has the original alternator which I have replaced the brushes in one time.
I have a 30 year old GMC Suburban with the 6.2 litre Diesel. I recently replaced the water pump. It was the FIRST time that it had ever been replaced. Does this mean the new on will go 30 years also? No, that’s just how well the old one did. I just replaced the water pump on a 1994 Chevy Lumina. It’s a serpentine belt driven waterpump, takes about 20 minutes to replace. Also, to kill the irlandes saying, the water pump is usually a very inexpensive part, and it’s better to replace it when you have the chance. I paid 43 dollars for the suburban waterpump, and the lumina water pump was only 23. Frankly, spending so little for a large amount of piece of mind is a great idea.