I must change the timing belt of my car. I have been told that the water pump must be done too since it is right there. Due to the high price I want to postpone/skip the water pump until the next tune up. What happens if the water pump fails down the road? How long does a water pump last? 120K? My car has 60,000 miles on it. Thank you.
I always suggest at same time. Most timing belt jobs are 4-5 hour jobs and all of that has to be removed to replace the water pumpp, which could be in a week a month or a year (roll the dice) it doesn't usually take much if any additional labor to replace the pump when everything else is out of the way usually just the cost of the pump itself. if you wait and say a month later the water pump goes out you would have the expense of the pump AND ALL THE LABOR AGAIN.
The reason you are being told to change both at the same time is because the tear down is almost exactly the same to do both of those actions. It's highly recommended that you change both because you are probably gonna pay for 5 hours labour to change the timing belt then you are gonna pay for another 5 hours of labour when you take you car back to change the water pump, whereas had you simply changed the water pump at the same time it would have only added about 45 minutes of labour to the total labour... Do both at the same time or don't bother doing any till you can afford both!
You don't have to renew the water pump. They mention it because it becomes easily accessible during the timing belt replacement. The extra cost should only be the cost of the water pump. So it's often sensible to include the water pump at the same time. If you do it at the next service it will cost you at least the same as you are paying now for the belt job.
There is no guarantee on how long the water pump will last, but normally 100,000 miles plus. But that is true of a timing belt too. The water pump has a weep hole at the bottom, visually check for corrosion or rust in that area. If you see some, could be a sign that it is ready to go soon. If not, then do the repairs that you can afford. But why the heck are you changing a timing belt at 60,000 miles.
