Water pump not belt driven on 1.8TQS

[Bong Water]

Just got my car back from having the cambelt replaced. The guy said he didnt replace the waterpump as its the older style engine and not cambelt driven, he shown me the diagrams on the computer so that was fine and obviously didnt charge me for the pump.

Thing is though he said its a seperate job with 3 hours labour at £150

I am not spending any more money on this car!! In three months of ownership I have spent £665 on a major service, cambelt kit, ARB bush, brake fluid and MOT.

My mate who is an engineer said leave it, if it fails it will leak first, thing is though I had a Renault Megan and the pump failed and the engine overheated and warped the head and the head gasket went.

I know this isnt a Renault but I was wondering what mileage the pump on these should be replaced? Mine is on 56K miles on a W plate

Cheers

 

[Oranoco]

With the water pumps they typically fail on the plastic impellor so the spindle spins inside it so the water isn't pumped round the engine. Had it happen on my old A4 on Christmas eve

 

[Bong Water]

What mileage was it on?

 

[Oranoco]

130k of which 30k were mine and were hard miles

 

[Bong Water]

Ok thanks for the info, think ill leave it till the next service next January as I dont do that much in the way of mileage, probably less than 10K a year

 

[Markey]

I dont know of a 1.8T thats water pump is not driven by the motion of the cam belt etc

 

[Bong Water]

My engine code is AJL, I saw it all on the software, it looked to me that all 96 - 2001 1.8t's are like this but not sure

 

[jsmithee]

my water pump is also external, 1.8t aeb 1998. replaced it on 126000 cos the bearings were noisy - impeller was still perfect. it is easy to replace them yourself but space is tight.

 

[johnie72]

It's the V6 that has the cambelt driven water pump.

The 1.8T is driven by the auxilary belt. I changed mine about 2 months ago, at 90,000 miles, and the impellar was about 45% perished.

 

[PaulJC84]

I replaced mine when did the belts. Was a bit of a ******. It was definately driven off a belt.

My engine code is AJL also.

 

[Bong Water]

I replaced mine when did the belts. Was a bit of a ******. It was definately driven off a belt.

My engine code is AJL also.

Driven off an auxilary belt and not the cambelt?

What worries me now is what this other belt is and how long is it supposed to last!? The mechanic new that he could of got another £150 out of me but he told me not to worry about it, cars suck

 

[mwarrey]

The point of doing the waterpump the same time as the timing belt is that there is very little extra labour required. It is also worth changing the auxilary belt (and air conditioning belt if you have it) as well. In addition to this it is worth changing to the newer style tensioner.

On the bright side, the failure of the waterpump will not cause your cambelt to snap and destroy your engine. The downside is that you will in the near future have to spend another £200 having the waterpump replaced.

 

[Bong Water]

The mechanic said it was a seperate job, I also found this strange though. The cambelt and tensioner was replaced

 

[Markey]

As above its normally all the same job, i would have told the mechanic "look i asked you to change it do it please" as it sounds like he talked you out of doing it possibly becuase he could not be *****.

 

[bredhurststeve]

my water pump went at 115 k on my old w 1.8t when it overheated

 

[Bong Water]

115K, thanks, everyone who has commented on failure has mentioned over 100K miles

What confuses me is that I have never seen a mechanic turn down business before! He literally said not to worry about it and didnt recomend booking it in to get it done. He also discounted the total cost accordingly.

Going on the low mileage of the car and the mileage that I do per year, it can wait till the next service and I am not going to worry about it.

 

[Mothy69]

It's the V6 that has the cambelt driven water pump.

Gulp..

 

[Bong Water]

Spoke to Audi today, 80K miles is the recomended on the AJL engine for a waterpump change

 

[macca]

did mine at 85k, belt driven AEB 1998 engine, same on a 1999 APU engine. got a non audi one from eurocar parts for about £25 and had metal impellers.

 

[JayB5UK]

Had mine done, 2000 AWT engine, at the same time as cambelt / kit, genuine parts through the Skoda dealer who did the job, only £33 for the pump. They said it is in "with the cambelt" so unsure if driven by it or the aux belt, but it is a lot of labour later on, including removing the cambelt (which will have to be replaced) to get at the water pump later.
I hate it when they talk you out of preventative maintenance cause they are the ones with dirty hands. If I ask for something to be done and I am paying, I ****** well want it done!